I've been doing a lot of reading, researching and comparing of blogging platforms lately. Mainly because I'm trying to find the best home for the comic, but also to keep up with what's going on in the technological world.
I've been with Blogger a long time simply because, for a while, it was the only free platform. Then I got to know it inside and out. I could customize it endlessly and learned HTML in 6th grade just so I could write up personalized templates for it. Blogger feels like a comfortable old apartment. It's pretty run-down, has a few creaks and leaks, its nothing like the fancy new lofts going up everywhere....but its mine and I'm used to it.
WordPress holds no appeal for me other than the ability to use ComicsPress. From what I've seen, this is THE theme and platform for webcomics unless I go through the trouble of creating a site completely from scratch. Almost every webcomic uses ComicsPress and common opinion seems to be that it is a pain to set up but is smooth afterward. Until a different platform is made, I will most likely be moving my comic to WordPress. My biggest concern is that I will miss the inter-connection of the Blogger webcomickers I've come to know and love. There's a whole slew of top-notch artists still using Blogger and I love the ability to "Follow" them and have them show up in my RSS reader.
Lastly, Tumblr has been intriguing me more and more. I'm violently opposed to anything new, so initially I despised Tumblr and the idea of micro-blogging. It seemed to me as an excuse to just re-link and re-post random crap from the internet...and a lot of tumbleblogs are just that. There are a few, though, that are pretty interesting and some with original content. The ease, both in visual aesthetic and in posting, of images is what hooked me in.
I think I'll be making a Tumblr account soon. Perhaps make a Tumblr just for posting daily sketches. I love that I can host files directly on Tumblr, so no more uploading to Photobucket then linking. I will most probably keep this Blogger for my lengthy ramblings and musings.
Just my opinion, but blogger has a lot of unique advantages over, say, livejournal or WordPress. Number one being the easy connections that can be made and the number of folks who will find you at random. Having your own site may say to the world, "I am serious about my comic," and give you the ability to make things look exactly as you want, but it won't increase your traffic overnight or make you any more or less respectable or link-worthy to other established webcomickers.
ReplyDeleteI run my site with WordPress and a plug-in called, simply enough, Webcomic. I used to use ComicPress, but I feel Webcomic can do all that it can and more as well as having the added benefit of really great support. Also Webcomic has built-in functionality for running multiple comics, which ComicPress didn't back when I used it. (They may have changed it since then.) However, while your blogger HTML coding expertise will be helpful, you will likely need to learn CSS to run any of the good WordPress platforms. Slight learning curve, not too difficult.
You know you can host images directly on blogger too? You just click on the little "Add Image" icon - looks like a landscape portrait - next to the spell check where you write posts. Blogger gives you like 1024MB free storage space.
Just some food for thought. Remember, what works for one person won't necessarily work for you.
I'm happy remaining here in blogger, but mainly cause I'm not HTML savvy or anything, and I've got the hang of this, and I'm now happily blogging with some more regularity... but you've given me an idea for making myself a Tumblr in the future...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the input, King.
ReplyDeleteThe CSS thing is what's been preventing me from jumping into Wordpress headfirst. I don't like change or having to learn something new to do something I've been doing forever.
I absolutely hate Picasa (the Blogger picture host.) It's disorganized and a pain to link to.
As per Blogger vs Wordpress, to be honest, the only reason I want one is all the cool kids have it! Hahaha! I do want my own someday but for now, my low readership cannot justify the cost and time.
My opinion is that the comic is what brings people to your site, not necessarily the platform. If the work is good, you'll have readers (and your work is great, Sheika). I'm content to stay on Blogger because it's free and easy and, like you said, easily connectable (is that a word?).
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