How does one start a blog, what's the best way to get one started? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2017, 08:13:22 pm
content: I love reading blogs from time to time and i think i should start one for myself.One problem is i'm not sure what's the best way to do it.Since the whole Photobucket thing i've been pretty skeptical of sites that offer free service.Would it be worth it to set up an unused laptop as a dedicated server and make my own website or got for one of the free options?I do stuff that i don't think making a thread about here on this forum is appropriate, but making videos about my projects would seem a little too bothersome for a novice like me.A perfect solution would be a blog where i could upload detailed pictures and descriptions of what it is that i'm doing.For example right now i'm experimenting with vapor chambers, as of now i've made five different ones (of which three died in the first 10 minutes) and i feel like sharing what i've found out.Thanks for any advice.

author: kalel
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2017, 08:19:26 pm
content: If you want a blog, Wordpress is one of the decent (well known) platforms. There is also free Wordpress hosting, but I'm sure there are some caveats as usually.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2017, 11:16:09 pm
content: There are problems with running your own web server:* Most service carriers allocate subscribers relatively small outgoing bandwidth. So your site may seem slow to readers.* If your site is under load, your own internet connection will get strangled.* Keeping your server up, and secure, requires considerable skill.* Typical net access accounts provide dynamic IP addresses to subscribers. Which change quite often. So you have a problem with how to provide DNS lookup to your web server. Also the DNS system takes a while for updates to spread around the world, so every time your IP address changes, your site will become inaccessible to many people for a while.Alternatively, you can buy hosting and DNS registration quite cheaply. It does not have to be in your country, and the domain registration and hosting don't have to be in the same country either. Search around for the cheapest deal.One tip: Do not use Network Solutions. They are bastards (long personal story there.)As for how you generate and maintain the content, you have options:* Use a wrapper service like wordpress. Where you get lots of bells and whistles, but the method of creating content is abstracted from the underlying html. There's still a learning curve, but you end up stuck with that provider, and don't acquire any more general net/html skills. Also if the service doesn't let you do what you want, there's nothing you can do about it. Also censorship, and typically their terms of service state they own your content.* Get a bare server, with a file system, direct access via FTP to upload your content, and ideally a server management console like Cpanel. Nice if you have a unix console login too, but not essential.For uploading and maintaining files on the server you can use a plain FTP utility like WinSCP, or a more complex utility that does mass file comparisons and syncs the online files with your local ones. These tools are very useful, and I used to use one but it died. Now I just use WinSCP.* Cloud-based stuff. I have no advice, as I'm cynical about the whole concept and avoid it.I do it the bare server way. Write your content in html and css. Add javascript if you want. Then your learning curve has widely useful results; skills you can use for anything network or html related.My 'not a blog' ramblings are here:http://everist.org/NobLog/index.htm(Ha ha, the front page is very plain, because I have something planned for it in future, that depends on *another* software development project. Which like so many projects, is unfinished.)You can use the 'view source' feature in any browser to take a look at existing websites (including mine) to see how stuff was done. Mine is very simple - one small css file, plus the htm and image files. A bit of folder structure to keep images separate per posting. No active content or database. A very simple SED script locally, to do some repetitive html code generation for thumbnail images. If you want to keep it even simpler with no interdependencies, you can embed the css within the header of each page's html file. That way when you try new style stuff on new pages, you don't risk breaking existing pages.Large commercial sites are typically VERY complicated. But there's no reason you have to get bogged down in that kind of drama. You can do a lot with just a few style templates.There are any number of WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) html editors, but you can also use a plain text editor and a standard browser. Open the same .htm file with both. Edit as plain text, save file, refresh browser to see the result. That's how I do it. Nice and simple. Minimalist tools, and all free.Another advantage of this stand alone method, is you can keep a local 'in development' tree on your PC, where you write and polish articles before uploading. Also keep a 'posted' tree, as a backup of your online content.Also you can try writing some articles and get them to a finished state, exactly as other people would see them, before even deciding to go ahead and hire a web server, etc. I'd advise doing this. Verify you can actually write content, and have some friends give feedback, before committing any money.Another choice to make, is whether you want reader comments. Adding that means some active scripting, and running a database process on your server. More learning curve, but more significantly it's a can of worms because then you have to moderate the results. Unless you are very thick skinned and prepared to take any official heat for whatever idiots might put in the comments. I just don't.

author: kalel
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2017, 11:29:23 pm
content: TerraHertz has some good ideas there I agree with. Forlearning, starting with HTML/CSS/Javascript (you don't even need JavaScript for many simple sites) is a great thing. It is flexible, tools are free (e.g. Notepad++, or Brackets works great), documentation online is great, you can find almost any problem answered.For producing content easily, or producing a lot of it, Wordpress (or an alternative CMS) is easy to use, whether hosted locally or online. You can still apply your HTML/CSS/Javascript knowledge by modifying or making custom themes, layouts, or even plugins (those would require server-side PHP knowledge). But it's actually harder to make a Wordpress plugin or a custom theme than a simple website in HTML/CSS, since you need to know some WP-specific stuff (as you are making an extension of it). Some providers will limit customization (I think Wordpress hosting - the main one - is free of charge but does not give you full access), but you can normally still edit themes (at least up to a point, with CSS), install plugins for almost any functionality a standard website needs (at least you should be able to if they didn't limit that too), etc.I guess this depends on your needs. Are you willing/interested in learning a little bit about web development? You could definitely pay for a web host that lets you add your own files and manage databases and install scripts like Wordpress (or upload your own site), or even a small "VPS" (Virtual Private Server) where you get a shell you can access remotely, but that is more complicated to setup (unless that's your thing) and you are usually responsible for more maintenance, where with a dedicated web hosting provider, they do most maintenance themselves and you can focus on your website files and content.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2017, 11:47:06 pm
content: Quote from: wilfred on November 29, 2017, 11:24:31 pmYes, this is the MAJOR advantage of keeping your content in standard html with no dependencies on anything like wordpress. You can just upload your entire local image as-is to a new server anytime, and it will be online exactly as on the last server. I've changed server a few times, and this is really essential.It's also nice to be able to review your local site without network lag. Just open any html file directly with a browser.

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2017, 12:26:00 am
content: Well since i'm studying at a uni far from home and i don't have much money to spare so paying for a hosted server is not something i can do.What i do have, though, is a bunch of spare time and a will to learn, because, heck, i might get ok enough at website development to a point where i can do it for money.You see, to me there are only two true values in life, them being knowledge and money.For starters i'd like to be able to make something like this:http://www.sparkbangbuzz.com/index.html(just spent the last four hours reading and researching through most of the posts, cool stuff)And unless i'm sorely mistaken it should be not too hard to get to it.I'll also look into free alternatives, if there's youtube for videos then there has to be an equivalent for blogs, right ?But before that happens i'll go catch some sleep, it's 2:25AM afterall.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2017, 02:11:01 am
content: Yeah, free web hosting does exist.There is also free file hosting, eghttps://mega.nz/Most network access accounts provide a small amount of web-serving file space.Being a student at a uni, probably means you already have some free web server space. Ask around at your uni, see if that's so.Another way is, you may find someone who maintains web server spaces, sub-renting from a large ISP, to clients who are not web-savy. Maybe if you are lucky you can get some free server space, as a friend.There probably are free commercial space providers, but you will have to have their advertising on your site. This was never acceptable to me, so I never looked into it.QuoteThat's cool. Will have a read later. Must go do stuff now.I have a list of tech-blog sites I like, will post later if you want it.

author: Ian.M
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2017, 04:03:24 am
content: Start by preparing a month's worth of content off-line. Text and images, no fancy formatting as so far you don't know if it will survive the upload process. Time how long it takes you, and if its longer than you can spare each subsequent month, maybe blogging's not for you.Then get you own domain name so if you need to switch blog hosting providers under adverse circumstances, you can keep your readership. I cant emphasise this enough. If the domain name isn't owned by you independently of your hosting provider, they've got you over a barrel. Don't accept any bundle deal where they register and hold the domain for you.Look at your blog hosting provider's help pages for how to point your domain at their hosting. If they don't support it or it needs a too expensive account upgrade, go elsewhere.Then get blogging - see advice from the others above.ALWAYS back up your content locally. If your hosting provider goes dark (e.g. bankrupt or hit by a flood etc.), you want to be able to take your archived content elsewhere and get it back up within the 24H it will take for a domain change to fully propagate.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2017, 09:27:09 am
content: I ran a blog few years ago. You have two ways of doing it:Use a free service. Now, DNS is never free, so your site will be x.y.com for example. In this case it is better to stick to x.wordpress.com or x.blogspot.com (google). This way, you cannot monetize the site with ads.Or pay for your website. DNS will cost you about 10 USD a year, hosting anywhere between 30 and infinity. Most webhasters sell you the 30 package first year, and increase it to infinity over the years. They screw you over, and prey on you as much as they can. Eventually, you move your site, which is a nightmare, losing content, time and money.And you will get about a few hundred spams a day, if you enable comments.I've tried the second option. It is not fun, nor profitable.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2017, 10:40:53 am
content: Quote from: wilfred on November 30, 2017, 10:33:34 amMaybe the sentence order wasn't correct.It is better to stick with them, because visitors will leave sub-domains that are unknown to them. And dont remember it. Also, who runs the website, can place pretty much any ad they want on the top.And if you cannot really monetize sub-domains in most cases.

author: Bicurico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2017, 11:59:52 am
content: Why not start the easy way and just usehttps://www.blogger.com?This belongs to the Google Universe and just works. No need to setup any server and it is free. My blog runs on their site and I had no issue so far.You get access to AdSense and full statistics.I think to START a blog, this is the way to go. IF your blog grows big enough and generates enough income to sustain a commercial server, THEN look at that option.I strongly advise AGAINST setting up your own server at home using your internet connection (as already explained by forum members in this thread):- You will suffer from automated hacks- Your computer will soon be one more mail hoster for SPAM or, worse, part of a huge DoS zombie network- You will have a reduced bandwidth- Your current internet provider may not agree with you setting up a home server (read the fine print)A commercial server to host your blog, webserver, videoserver, etc. will cost money. Add to this your own domain name. These contracts are bandwidth limited. You MUST have the knowledge and time to administer the server, otherwise you will again quickly be victim of an attack that could generate a lot of traffic, which you then have to pay for.A free host sucks, as they will:a) flood you with spam <and/or>b) charge you for their services after some time <and/or>c) they will cease their services in a short timeThe times where one could just setup his own server are long gone, in my opinion.Regards,Vitor

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 30, 2017, 12:14:40 pm
content: Just get a $5/month shared website host (and $10 for a domain name) and they will include a single click install Wordpress, you'll be set up in 5min and have your one domain name and website.Completely trivial.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: November 30, 2017, 12:17:42 pm
content: Quote from: Bicurico on November 30, 2017, 11:59:52 amA "commercial server" is $5/month.https://www.hostmonster.com/(or a zillion others)You get a free domain name, and single click installs for Wordpress and countless other things.You'd be crazy to do anything else.My entire eevblog websiteandthis forum ran for many years off a single $10/month shared web host. I also ran half a dozen other websites on the same shared server. Even today I still run my eevblog.org podcast video server and other websites off that $5/month Hostmonster shared server.

author: Kohanbash
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2017, 04:15:37 pm
content: As everyone else said find a host and get your own domain.One mistake I made when I first started was not having a good blog name. Think about what you want to call the blog and what content you want to have.Start writing. In the beginning (and also after) you need to generate regular content so that you can build the site.Publishing all blog posts to facebook, twitter, etc.. helps spread the word for your blog posts. I dont know about other blogs, but I see the most shares with linkedin; perhaps because I have a blog mostly for professionals.Be prepared to get hundreds of emails from people trying to "help you". You will probably need to ignore or say no to all of them.Good luck

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2017, 05:44:59 pm
content: Thanks for all the help but i had a bit of a different idea for my blog.You see i don't need any ad revenue, and i don't want to get "famous".I just want my projects to be out there so that any curious soul could find them.Whenever i'm looking for something that i'm interested in i rarely find more that one or two blogs with people doing stuff like it, otherwise there's nothing else.And my projects are not mainstream enough to get a lot of traffic (eg. vacuum tubes, vapor chambers and soon to be an electro-mechanical IR camera).I think for now one of the free blog sites ( either blogspot, blogger or wordpress ) will do.The most important thing now as Kohanbash said is coming up with a good name.I do also have a bunch of content (in the form of 4k pictures) in my phone of the various things that i do from time to time that i refrain from posting here.I think something like Dalibor Farny's blog would be ideal for me.http://www.daliborfarny.com/blog/page/7/#to-main-content

author: kalel
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2017, 05:55:58 pm
content: I would recommend Wordpress as at least theoretically it offers a lot of customization. The free host will limit much of that, but still you would be using the same platform you could use for your own hosted website later. I just did a search to verify that it's not limited on the main free host, and don't take my word from a quick search (I haven't used the service to confirm), but it should be possible to transfer your posts and content to your own host when/if you choose to do so.But these guys (and many other free hosts, not all) will place some ads on your website (maybe just ads for their hosting, but maybe also other revenue generating ads). I'm not sure what the ads will be or how intrusive. If that annoys you, you should look for a reliable free, ad free blog hosting service.

author: brucehoult
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2017, 06:29:23 pm
content: Quote from: Refrigerator on November 30, 2017, 12:26:00 amHosting doesn't have to be expensive.You can get a whole virtual machine all to yourself, with root access, install any software you like on Amazon EC2. A t2.nano costs US$0.0058 per Hour. That's $50 a year. Or $29 a year if you pay for a year in advance. You get 512 MB of RAM, 1 virtual x86 core, and 3 minutes of CPU time per hour, on average, which is PLENTY. When the machine is quiet the CPU time credits build up until you have about 5 hours of continuous CPU time available, should you happen to get slashdotted or reddited or whatever the cool kids read now.You'll also have to add an EBS storage volume to that t2.nano for our actual blog data (if you don't want to have to re-upload it any time you reboot the server). That costs US$0.10 per GB per month. minimum size 1 GB, so that's another $1.20 per year.You can use AMI's with Linux and software such as Wordpress already installed, so you don't need any of that stuff on the disk you're paying for. In fact the cloned AMI you get as the boot disk will have enough free space for your blog, but as I previously mentioned if it gets rebooted for any reason you'll lose that copy. Data on an EBS volume is safe.There will also be some traffic charges if your blog gets really popular. The first 1 GB per month is free, then $0.09/GB up to 10 TB/month :-) :-)

author: electronicsdude
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 05, 2017, 04:00:07 pm
content: I used Google App Engine. Google allows you to host 5 Web apps for free, it's completely free but you have to be able to write code from scratch so I don't really recommend it. If I'm correct there are some free CMS (Content Management Systems) written for Google App engine but I can't remember the name. Just do a quick google yourself!

author: idpromnut
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 06, 2017, 04:53:04 am
content: By far the hardest part about a blog is writing. So I suggest that in addition to all the other excellent advice, just try and write every day. It doesn't have to be much, it doesn't have to be good, but it has to be done, and every day. If you can do this, and keep going, I'd say that you have a good chance at running a blog that will keep going. If you can't, then perhaps what you are trying to do is have a place for information about your projects and interests. For that, I would say anything will really do, and it will come to your preference on using whiz-bang tools vs manually writing up your HTML (as others have said).I'd also suggest that if you are more interested in learning the ins and outs of running a Linux server, then focus on that, and if you are more interested in the communication and journal aspect, then get an easy to setup and maintain service (as Dave suggested) and go with that.

author: kalel
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2017, 05:32:22 am
content: Does it have to be a free solution, or does cheap work as well?

author: JustSquareEnough
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 07, 2017, 03:44:45 am
content: Quote from: Refrigerator on November 30, 2017, 05:44:59 pmyeap, nothing wrong with this and is the purpose of my own site as well. I host through azure but thats only because I can get it for free and I do my site in customer .net rather than a content platform like wordpress. do what Dave said a few posts above (find a cheap but large/reputable shared host with turn key wordpress). if you want to stay ad free and just have a place to document and publish your projects, spending ~60 for host and another 10 for domain registration per year is a very fair price, I think.oh yea, dont forget to publish your projects, with a link back to your site, here, in the relevant forum threads!

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 08, 2017, 10:45:42 pm
content: Well i went ahead with blogspot for now.I'll try the free alternative before i decide whether or not it's worth going the more professional route.I called my blog "BrimmingIdeas", not sure if the name's good or not.I won't be posting anything anytime soon over there since i have no idea what i'm looking at right now, I'm quite clueless as of what to do right now, to be honest.But i'll figure it out eventually

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 09, 2017, 10:56:56 am
content: Keeping a blog takes a lot of time and a lot of work to do it just for fun. I tried a few times and failed, ended up each time with the blog neglected, but I guess is just me. That is why I recommend that before spending money and buying a domain for it, you may want to try something free at first (free as in no money, no setup effort and no administration skills required), and see if you like to keep a blog.I'm using wordpress.com, and they were OK so far. My free account with them is more than 9 years old now, and I guess wordpress.com is even older than that.Wordpress.comis a blog hosting service based on the free and open source software platform namedWordPress. Basically they have some machines with WordPress already installed and configured, and a good Internet connection. If you want to be independent from them as a service provider, you can download WordPress software from wordpress.organd install a wordpress server on your own PC, but keeping it up and running will cost more time, money and skills than you may want to spend.For me, wordpress.comwas the choice because- it's free but it is also possible to pay a small monthly fee if you want more control or more storage.- you doesn't need to install or host anything on your PC, it's all managed by any web browser- you don't need skills to defend your blog against being hacked/vandalized or spammed- doesn't need from you to buy a domain, but you can have your own domain later if you decide to pay for it- you are not locked into one provider only, you can import/export the blog content locally on your PC, just to be sure you will not loose your content if wordpress.comgoes belly-up- it's based on the free and open source blogging platform software named "WordPress", probably the most used platform, free and open source, big community for help and support- you can download and install anytime a Wordpress server on your own PC if you have enough administration skillsThe main downsides for the free account are- wordpress.comwill insert adds in your pages, but it is not some invasive and unbearable add, it's decent, like one banner at the end of the page.- when importing/exporting the content, media library is NOT exported and packed together with the text, so you need to be careful with pictures and videos. Keep a local copy of them, and use a good naming scheme for media files just in case you need to rebuild all the blog content from scratch.I might be biased because I didn't tried other blogging platforms. The main reason for staying with wordpress.comwere that- it was completely free- it is still possible to run everything locally if I ever choose to- software was free, open source and very active community- hosting with wordpress.comwas very reliable for more than a decade now

author: kalel
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 09, 2017, 11:10:11 am
content: what kind of ads do they show on free accounts, how obtrusive?

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 09, 2017, 11:19:33 am
content: Nothing obtrusive in my opinion, but you can take a look at a few pages from my free blogand see for yourself:https://rogeorge.wordpress.com/