When creating a free blog you are given two real choices, WordPress and Blogspot. This of course isn’t including other smaller services, so please hold onto your panties. Both WordPress and Blogspot have faults and positives, but for the sake of this article lets focus on the negatives Blogspot holds.
- The comment system is out of wack. Whenever I visit a blogspot website and wish to comment, I am given several choices. The problem is, all of them suck. Google login? Yeah, that works if I also have Blogspot. Unfortunately, most don’t. OpenID sucks. The concept is great, however, for whatever reason the system messes with the names. Also, you have to login to OpenID to comment. Even the name/url system sucks because it doesn’t leave our URL!
- No default inline comments. What kind of insane Google employee thought it was a bright idea to have a popup fling up whenever someone wants to comment? Put those badboys as inline! I know there is a choice, but the reason people choose Blogspot is for its out-of-the-box ease. Put it as the default.
- Coding for Blogspot is an absolute nightmare. Have you ever tried to edit a templates default wording for the comments? OUCH. It is a complete joke compared to WordPress. Want to make it easier on us? Have a help forum that is easy to browse and easy to find answers. Better yet, have a Wiki.
- CSS is written on page instead of separate file. Why? I have no clue. Instead of allowing browsers to cache the CSS file and thus make the pages run faster, Blogspot puts the CSS on every single page. Nifty.
- The default themes look like a half retarded donkey threw up. If you want to have a slick looking theme what are the choices? Three? Possibly four? And by slick, I mean one that doesn’t look like it came out of 1995 or was just shat out by Donald Trump.
- The permalinks are anti-SEO. There’s nothing you can do about it, but it is really annoying to see. I just want to grab Google and shake it. Make the links SEO friendly Google!
If you must use Blogspot, make these changes:
- Turn on inline comments.
- Create a unique theme.
- Turn on name/url comments.
Written: Sep 19, 2008
Tags: blogging, blogspot, Web Development
Turnip
September 20, 2008 @ 3:54 am
Blogspot is the bane of the internet. Want to cut spam? Force all blogspot blogs to donate 100% of their adsense earnings to an approved charity.
nukeit
September 20, 2008 @ 6:31 pm
Blogspot people seem to be obsessed with sticking every javascript widget out there on one page. Not that it doesn’t apply to all bloggers, it’s just ridiculous how many analytics widgets these guys use… doesn’t the host keep track of all that stuff for you?
ugh..
/rant
Harish
September 21, 2008 @ 3:58 am
Hey blogspot really sucks.I hope u agree that u like to comment on blogspot blogs.Then why dont u comment.Any way great post.thanx
Dennis Edell
September 21, 2008 @ 12:52 pm
I was so super lucky to have been introduced to and taught WP right from the get-go!
I must firmly agree on the comment situation…as one that reads and comments on many blogs, I don’t even open those anymore.
Gary R. Hess
September 21, 2008 @ 11:04 pm
@Dennis I was one of the unlucky ones who found blogspot first. This was a while back though, so wordpress wasn’t that popular. Once I switched over, I don’t think I could every fully go back.
The one thing that blogspot does offer though is a way into blogging and making money in general. When my girlfriend said she wanted to start, I told her to start there. Of course, during her first post she frustrated by it and even said ‘I don’t know how anybody can use this.’
Dennis Edell
September 22, 2008 @ 4:29 am
Hey Gary, do you know many people actually making money with those blogs?
Thanks for dropping by my blog again
Gary R. Hess
September 22, 2008 @ 5:04 am
Yeah, there are quite a few. There are actually some pretty popular blogs out there that use blogspot. It isn’t necessarily a ‘bad’ service, it is just annoying and the has quite a few SEO no-nos built-in.
Dennis Edell
September 22, 2008 @ 5:30 am
Interesting. I know I’m not alone in thinking they look unprofessional (to say the least) so thats rather surprising to me.
Harish
September 22, 2008 @ 8:36 am
Hey dennis see the link back of your blog which I gave on my blog.
Harish
September 22, 2008 @ 8:41 am
sorry Hey here is a back link of this blog in my blog
Dennis Edell
September 22, 2008 @ 11:16 am
Harish - I think you got our name mixed up? There’s no link to me.
StanHayes
September 23, 2008 @ 2:05 pm
I’m so glad to be out of Blogspot, but I will say Google favors Blogspot content in its search results without the user having to do anything.
CyberCelt
September 23, 2008 @ 7:26 pm
For being free, Blogp it really is a pretty good program. I moved my domaim to WP and it is a pain.
Gary R. Hess
September 23, 2008 @ 8:37 pm
@CyberCelt what exactly do you like about Blogspot and dislike about WP?
frugal fergie
September 24, 2008 @ 2:13 pm
This should be in bold: Turn on name/url comments. Excellent post.