Comparison of Blogger, WordPress and Google Page Creator App

Trying to figure out where to host this new creative outlet was no easy task. But blogging is definitely great fun, and if you are thinking of starting a weblog, here is the process I went through and what I learned.

My first requirement was that the hosting site be free. So all the blog hosting sites I discuss below are free.

I started out at WordPress.com because that is were Shelley's blog is located, but I need more gadgetry. So I tried Google's Page Creator which has a zillion "fun" gadgets, but (as explained below) found it too complicated for a newbie like me to install the basic necessities like comments, RSS, Blogroll, etc. without searching the internet of pastable HTML code. I next moved on to Blogger.com, which I found to be a realatively good compromise for my needs. Here is what I discovered during my techno blogging adventure:

WordPress.com	Blogger.com	GooglePageCr
Templates	Templates	Templates
1-4columns	2columnsmax	1-3columns
Custom header	No	Custom header
Auto comments widget	Auto comments element	No
Page Bottom Widgets with Select Templates	Page Bottom Widgets Avail	Page Bottom Widgets Avail
Separate Linked Pages with Parent Pages and Password Protection	No, must create Separate Linked Blogs	Separate Linked Pages
One Click Installation for Most Standard Widgets	One Click Installation for Limited Number of Widgets	Many Fun Gadgets
Automatic/User Friendly Blog Statistics	No Blog Statistics	No Blog Statistics
No Advertising Permitted	One Click AdSense Set Up	One Click AdSense Set Up

I would say that WordPress.com was the most user friendly for a newbie who still demands all the bells and whistles. WordPress gives many customization options and includes most "must have" widgets like Comments, RSS feed, Archives, Blogrolls, etc. in a list of easy add on widgets. WordPress also has great blog statistics trackers and absolutely the most user-friendly help pages. However, WordPress.com does not permit any advertising. So if you want play around with Google's AdSense, you are out of luck.

I choose to use Blogger.com because it lets me play with AdSense. For some reason the lure of learning more about Google's online ads was just too much for me. The fact that the standard Blogger templates only permit two columns drives me crazy. And I am still trying to figure out a work around for creating subpages. Creating a subblog every time I want a link to documents or pictures that are not part of a post is crazy. I did see one site that was working around it by categorizing its archives. The archives page element does create a feature like separate pages for each archived post. Lastly, I had to insert html code from Statcounter.com to obtain stats on my blog. The positive side of this is I did learn about coding html. For example, I coded the entire table for the information above. Not bad for a newbie.

Before this post gets way too long, let me say that the Google Page Creator is not for Newbies, unless what you are looking for is a very simple blog with lots of great gadgets. I had to find code to include comments, subscriptions, blogroll, etc. It was just too much work. I imagine if you want max customization, it is a great place with Google Apps and Google Labs putting out the latest beta products, but that was not for me. The one cool thing about the Google blog hosting was that you could select to use your domain name (i.e., http://www.example.com/) instead of http://www.example.google.com/. But I guess why you would want that is an entirely different post.

I did not try out TypePad or LiveJournel, I just did not have the time. If you have any suggestions or articles about those, please include them in a comment below.

I hope that is helpful for anyone who wants to start a new blog.

Good luck!