Archive for the ‘Blog Software’ Category
by Darnell Clayton on February 19th, 2010
Considered by some to be a distant cousin to WordPress (as they have ”same blood“), b2evolution has continued to evolve at a seemingly faster pace than its younger cousin (as b2evolution is on version 3.3.3 while WordPress is on 2.9.2).
Although boasting numerous plugins, template skins and a small but passionate community, b2evolution has nearly faded from the public spot light as most people outside of the “realm known as geek” have never heard of b2evolution (as it brings up blanks stares, unlike WordPress or Blogger). Read More
Categories: Blog Software, Opinion
Tags: b2evolution
by Darnell Clayton on February 6th, 2010
With millions out of work throughout the world, many people (with extra time on their hands) are looking for extra ways to generate income by pursuing hobbies that they love.
For some that includes blogging, which might explain many of the “how do I start a blog” questions that I receive, as well as all the costs associated with starting one (at least for those who choose to self host their own content).
While there are many excellent blog platforms out there that do not require a person to have a server, for some the price range might be beyond their budget (especially those with monthly plans).
After scouring the internet for more hours than I care to admit, here are four blogging platforms for aspiring probloggers that cost less than $25 a year. Read More
Categories: Blog Software, Blogging Tips
Tags: Blogger, Live Journal, Tumblr
by Darnell Clayton on January 26th, 2010
For the first time in my geek life, I am seriously tempted to switch away from WordPress, all because of one iPhone app.
Joomla Admin Mobile, an iPhone application created by Covert Apps empowers users belonging to the Joomla faith to not only edit pages and articles, but also add multiple images to them without throwing all of the images at the bottom of the post (like WordPress 2) or near the top (like Squarespace).
Priced at $9.99, Joomla Admin Mobile (or JAM for short) sells at a much higher premium than other Joomla apps, although JAM does offer a few features lacking from its rivals. Read More
Categories: Blog Software
Tags: iphone, joomla!, Mobile Software
by Darnell Clayton on January 22nd, 2010
Last year I wrote a post lamenting about the lack of video blogging apps for the iPhone, especially after Apple launched the iPhone 3GS (not to mention allowing video apps for 2G and 3G iPhones).
Unfortunately the number of iPhone blogging apps embracing video has not improved since then, despite the fact that video editing apps are now appearing within Steve Job’s backyard (read App store).
After a very long search upon the app store, I was able to locate several apps embracing video blogging (or as some call it, “vidblogging“), as well as a few for Android freaks (that I have discovered online). Read More
Categories: Blog Software
Tags: iphone, Mobile Software, Video Blogging
by Darnell Clayton on January 19th, 2010
Question: How many geeks does it take to create a Drupal iPhone App?
Answer: Not enough.
iDrupal, an iPhone blogging app under development by Steve McKenzie and Zaheeren (from India) has been in “geek purgatory” for almost a year now, with no sign it will enter Steve Jobs playground any time soon.
Originally started by McKenzie out of the kindness of his heart (and wallet), iDrupal was able to receive a sponsor last October which gave some Drupal geeks hope that this app would be out soon.
A few months later and an elegant Drupal app has yet to hit the app store.
Unless McKenzie can work out his mad coding skills (and I have no doubt that he can), it looks like those of the Drupal faith may have to wait until spring before the app see’s the light of day (on the app store at least).
While iLovers can currently access Drupal via BlogPress, they are unable to upload images upon their own servers (forcing them to rely upon either Flickr or Picasa Web Albums).
Hopefully McKenzie’s iPhone app will be able to change all of that as Drupal’s lack of iPresence doesn’t help their image as a superior rival to WordPress.
(Image: Early screenshot of the upcoming iDrupal UI, Credit: Steve McKenzie)
Categories: Blog Software
Tags: drupal, iphone, Mobile Blogging, Mobile Software
by Franky Branckaute on January 16th, 2010
When speaking about WordPress CMS often the Drupal platform is mentioned as the most viable and more powerful alternative to WordPress. After more than 2 years of development the Drupal community now received what it has been waiting for for a long time: the first Drupal 7 release.
Albeit still only an Alpha release, the bang in the community was big and I suppose for the Drupal users it was very welcome news to finally be able to look forward to certain features like Custom Fields which are standard since a really long time in the blogging community. Drupal 6 already brought an image uploader and tags to the software and Drupal 7 now brings more features WordPress and users of other blog software have known for a while already.
What’s new in Drupal 7? With Drupal 7 come image editing, integrated updater and custom fields. Read More
Categories: Blog Software
Tags: drupal, Releases
by Franky Branckaute on January 5th, 2010
After the festive season the dev crew has released an update for WordPress 2.9. WordPress 2.9.1 is a bugfix release and contains no new features. If you have waited updating to 2.9, now is the time to upgrade as most issues have been resolved.
Issues with scheduled posts should be resolved and the same applies to feed parsing errors in the admin dashboard. Update your blogs now via the build-in updater or download the latest WordPress update now.
Categories: Blog Software, WordPress News
Tags: wordpress, WordPress 2.9
by Franky Branckaute on December 4th, 2009
The wait is finally over and Expression Engine 2.0 has finally been released by EllisLab more than 18 months after being introduced at SXSW 2008.
I personally have not had time yet to extensively test the new release but expectations are very high. In the past I have called Expression Engine the best self-hosted blogging platform on this site and am certainly looking forward to compare the new version to WordPress which I have come to love enough to use daily and customise for almost all projects, but often I have preferred the ease of EE 1.6.x when tailoring sites.
But First Things First.
The newly released EE2.0 PB (Public Beta) comes with a price and a new pricing structure:
- Freelancer: $99.95
- Non-commercial License: $149.95
- Commercial License: $299.95
Although Expression Engine 1.6.8 Core still available is, there is no free Core version for EE2.0, instead EllisLab offers a 30-day free demo download. It certainly is a daring move and although many labour has gone in the release (more than 2 years), one can only wonder if EllisLab is cutting of the ever shrinking community and pricing itself out of the market. In a sector with as main competitors the free and open source platforms WordPress and Movable Type, this bald move must be admired. When Six Apart announced a change in licensing structure in 2004 WordPress almost single-handedly won the market and some years later SA announced a new opensource version of MT, which was released end 2007 but MT had already lost its position as market leader. Is EE headed for a similar obscurity?
It must also be said that the standard license fee has increased with $50 for normal users. To make the platform more appealing for developers and designers there is a new Freelancer license at $99.95. One of the biggest differences when comparing EE to WordPress is the availability of plugins and the new license structure is not bound to help the Expression Engine community.
That said, I am looking forward to play with EE2.0 over the next 30 days before I decide whether I want to invest in a license for something I can have freely somewhere else. A license I mainly need to continue playing with the platform and promote EE as a viable and (hopefully still) better alternative.
It will be sad if the license structure will seal the future of EE as I would love to see more choice and more viable alternatives to WordPress. I secretly hoped that EE2.0 would become open source like other platforms but who am I. Now I must play with EE, I only have 30 days!
Can you imagine replacing WordPress with EE? What impact would it have on your business, especially when running several blogs?
Update: Expression Engine 2.0.0 PB released (yes version 2.0.0).
Categories: Blog Software, Blogging News
Tags: Expression Engine
by Darnell Clayton on November 23rd, 2009
Squarespace has done a phenominal job in creating an official iPhone app for their users, one which may make Blogger guru’s and WordPress disciples jealous.
While it supports the basics of iBlogging (photo uploading, categories & tags, drafts, editing previous posts, etc.), the Squarespace app also boasts a few extra notable features that make it shine against it’s rival blogging apps. Read More
Categories: Blog Software, Reviews
Tags: iphone, Mobile Blogging, Squarespace
by Brian on September 30th, 2009
You can do all of the hard work researching topics and writing content for your blog but all of your hard work is worthless if no one will actually visit your blog and read your well thought out posts.
All blog owners should not only improve their writing and research skills, they should also develop their internet marketing skills. They should learn how to market their blogs so that they can entice people to visit their blog and continue reading the posts they make. A properly marketed blog is also a great source of income. Imagine getting more money from the ads that you put in your blog? That’s a benefit I’d love to get from my blogs.
The problem is that internet marketing is a subject that intimidates a lot of people. Personally, I don’t think that this should be a source of fear. Internet marketing is not really that hard especially if you have the tools to help make things easier for you. For example, Twitter is quite easy to use. The popular microblogging platform is now widely used as an internet marketing tool. Its popularity makes it an obvious choice to implement marketing efforts because of the number of people that can be reached by the marketing message. Because of its effectiveness as a marketing tool, it’s also a natural progression that independent tools are developed to further mine the capabilities of Twitter.
Tweet Whistle is one of these tools that have unleashed the power of Twitter. Tweet Whistle is a marketing tool that allows you to market your blog in Twitter more easily by automating Twitter’s functions. With this application you can automatically target followers and even automate your Twitter posts. What’s more, Tweet Whistle is the most affordable Twitter marketing application you will find on the net. You can see for yourself how useful Tweet Whistle is by trying the trial demo, which you can download at http://www.tweetwhistle.com/.
But if you want the opportunity of using the full version of Tweet Whistle for free, you can join Tweet Whistle’s contest, wherein the winner will get a licensed copy of Tweet Whistle and a $25 cash prize to be paid through PayPal. To join the contest just do the following:
1. Follow @thetoolsmith on Twitter
2. Just tweet the message below:
Just enter to win $25.00 and a free copy of “Tweet Whistle” Just follow @thetoolsmith and Retweet http://tweetwhistle.com
Categories: Blog Software, Blogging Tools, Microblogging
Tags: contest, marketing, Tweet Whistle
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