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RSS feedsOnce the domain of a minority of programmers typing late into the night, blogging has now become so mainstream that both America Online and Friends Reunited have included 'online journals' as standard in the latest versions of their services. But how do you get started?
A number of services have sprung up in the wake of the 'web logging' phenomenon and now there's something for everyone. Those with little web knowledge can get a blog up and running with programs like Blogger and Livejournal, while more technical bloggers can tinker in the mechanics of Movable Type. Even handheld computer users and fans of photo-messaging are catered for these days.
All these services and more are listed below. In the meantime, check out www.weblogs.co.uk for the definitive list of UK-based blogs as they are updated.
BLOGGER
Created in 1999 by San Francisco's Pyra Labs, Blogger is one of the oldest and best-loved blogging tools around. Its main appeal is that it's free to sign up to, simple to use and the service is entirely web-based, so no downloads are necessary.
Blogger is also flexible; internet novices can choose from a selection of pre-designed page layouts and park their blog at Blogspot, Blogger's free web hosting service. Web whizzes, however, can host their blogs on their own sites and even create their own page templates.
Weblogging has become more sophisticated since 1999 and, despite revamping its services in 2003, Blogger is still lagging behind. It doesn't support photo blogging or categorisation of entries, and still has no in-built reader comments facility, although it will work with external comments systems.
After more than four years in the business, Blogger remains popular but will soon need some new tricks to keep up with the competition.
www.blogger.com
www.blogspot.com
LIVEJOURNAL
This community-minded program ties together the elements of blogging and newsgroups for an informal interactive experience. Joining is deliberately selective: you can either set up a paid account at £15 per annum, or register free if an existing user personally invites you.
Signing up gets you a username, journal and an optional biographical page. Users' interests fuel the Livejournal community; no matter how bizarre your hobbies, at least two other users will share them and you can add them as 'friends'.
Many interests have communal journals attached, to which users can post. These are as diverse as Hair Dye and Immigration Issues, and there are several which deal with specific health or lifestyle difficulties.
An aggregate list of your friends' journals is also available alongside your own. From here you can reply to their posts, join discussions and raise your profile.
Livejournal is more about content than style; there's no image-hosting facility and even with paid accounts, the customisation options are very limited. The content more than makes up for this, however, and over 600,000 international users can't be wrong. Livejournal also supports blogging via handheld computers and mobile phones.
www.livejournal.co.uk
TYPEPAD
Typepad was launched in 2003 by SixApart, which also created Movable Type. Movable Type is considered the ultimate blog package and requires your own web domain and plenty of technical knowledge simply for the installation.
Typepad is just as elegant and powerful, but you don't need to be a technical wizard to use it. You do, however, need some spare cash since, apparently, having the fiddly bits done for you doesn't come cheap.
There are three pricing tiers. For around £3 a month, you get hosting, several chic default designs to choose from, an integrated comments system, image support and the ability to divide your posts into categories (music, sport, personal, and so on).
Just under £5 per month will allow you all this plus multiple blogs, photoblogs and 'moblogging' (posting entries via your mobile phone).
The highest tier, Pro, affords users total design control, multiple authors and unlimited weblogs per account. This will set you back approximately £8 per month.
You can tell a Typepad-powered weblog at first glance as they are without exception stylish, simple and well-organised. In fact, most Typepad blogs look a little similar, but the level of control and variety of features more than makes up for this.
www.movabletype.org
www.typepad.com
ALSO WORTH A LOOK
Radio Userland
A 'personal publishing system' that you download and run from your desktop. Aimed at businesses and non-technical individuals, customisation options are limited but you can literally set up your blog in five minutes and post to it at the click of a button.
www.radiouserland.com
Diaryland
Diaryland is a free, informal web-based service aimed mainly at teenaged girls. Signing up gets you a journal, guestbook, personalised email address and password to the Diaryland chatroom. Choose from a selection of fun and colourful templates, and fill out an online profile to make friends.
www.diaryland.com
Audblog
With Audblog, you can enter audio posts on your weblog using any phone at any time. Simply call the Audblog number, record a message up to four minutes long and the service updates your weblog. Although Audblog currently uses a US number, subscription is less than £2 per month.
www.audblog.com
20six
20six allows you to blog by sending a text message or image from your mobile phone. You also get 10MB of web space, a personalised design, multiple weblogs that you can make private or public, comments and help support. The service is currently free but 20six may revise this soon.
www.20six.co.uk
BEST BLOGS
'I was just really very hungry' is a very funny Typepad-powered blog written by Maki, a Japanese-born foodie. Recipes, food categories and meditations on cuisine abound. Mouth-wateringly good.
maki.typepad.com/justhungry
Reality Blurred is a reality TV-centric, topical news blog powered by Movable Type, gleefully updated on a daily basis with gossip from almost 50 shows from the UK and worldwide.
www.realityblurred.com/realitytv
Another Movable Type weblog, this time a personal set of observations and links by Simon, a music student at the University of Surrey. Includes a beautiful and extensive photolog.
www.minor9th.com
The other news blog on our list is powered by Blogger and hosted for free at blogspot.com. The Purple Medical Blog collates medical articles from the web and highlights issues of the day.
purplemedicalblog.blogspot.com
Though Livejournal began in the US, it has become an international institution which can be bewildering when you first join. Livejournal_uk is one of the communal journals for UK subscribers.
www.livejournal.com/community/livejournal_uk
See also:
All Online
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