Wordpress

Wordpress Stuff

So making the move to self-hosted Wordpress was definitely a learning experience.  Even just thinking through the decision of whether to move or not was more involved than you might think.  There are pros and cons either way.  In this section, I will offer guides and links for Wordpress users, both WP-hosted and self-hosted.  Hopefully the information I share will save you some time or grief.

The Basics

While there are a number of blogging platforms available on the web, Wordpress is one of the two main contenders.  Most WoW-related blogs I see are either Blogger or Wordpress.  Blogger is now part of the Google empire (old, but still interesting link), and Wordpress has it’s origins as an open-source blogging platform.

Wordpress.org is the website dedicated to the open-source blogging software.  Wordpress.com is the website for the  hosted version of the .org open source package, where you can start a blog in seconds without any technical knowledge.

Wordpress is a fantastic blogging platform and unless you have good reasons to move to self-hosting I would recommend against it.  Especially if you have a well-trafficked site.  You will have issues with the move and you will lose significant traffic when you move.  That’s not just me, but most everyone I read when contemplating my own move.

That being said, there are things you may want to do with your blog that you simply can’t do on a Wordpress-hosted blog.  Wordpress doesn’t allow javascript, iframes, or divs so if you know what those are and you want some on your site, you must self-host.  Also, while Wordpress offers a nice set of features and automatically keeps your blog up to date, you only get the functionality they offer and cannot access the large, independent plugin library available to self-hosters.  Finally, monetization is not allowed on Wordpress-hosted sites, so if you are looking to use Google Adsense, or something like it, you must self-host.

Self-hosting is no walk in the park though and you are solely responsible for all aspects of your blog - both content and technical.  If you have trouble formatting a spreadsheet, and find those “url-thingies” confusing, then you better have a friend to help you out.

I’ve summarized some thoughts on which platform is best suited to you, along with advantages/disadvantages of each, in a Google Doc that can be read, downloaded or printed. 

Wordpress Links