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Recommend a blog for self-hosting


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I want to make clear - I don't know PHP at all (not interested in learning it), and I haven't administered a MySQL database. The data I will have on this site is quite important - so I have to make sure its easy to backup and restore.

I'm considering setting up a blog on my 'nix desktop system. I can install a webserver easily, ditto PHP + (I can figure out MySQL enough to install it). Its for note taking. I know it sounds lame, but its the only way it will keep me organized - its been a problem! I'm going to keep it private - so it won't be web accessible. I've tried in past a combination of Word documents, text files, doodles on lined paper and it doesn't work as well as I'd like. A blog seems more versatile, especially with those with tagging built-in (and for my purpose tagging will be important).

My main concern is something that is easy to administer. As long as its easy to manage/backup a database based blog, I'm all game. There's some with flat text file support, but I'm sure its going to perform like crap after a few megs of text.

I've looked on Wikipedia on blogs, wiki and CMS systems. There's a whole range of choices, and its hard for me to narrow down choices. I was looking at Pluck, Pivot X, Wordpress type stuff. Pivot X seems nice - I tried it out. Only problem is I don't know what the strengths/advantages vs others. Obviously, some have much larger communities and better support, plug-ins and themes.

So, I'd like some suggestions. All I know, is from some sites I've read the template and administration is very difficult for some systems even for those well versed in PHP.

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Wordpress! :D

Truthfully, it's the only CMS I've used the past 6 years and I can't imagine having to use anything but. I'm able to customize it to the point you wouldn't even realize it was Wordpress. The amount of 3rd party support is amazing with it. You've got plugins, themes, and even turning it into a social network by using BuddyPress.

http://twitter.com/jordanriane/wordpress - I've got a small amount of Wordpress developers that I follow that you could check out. Some of them are also just blogs that have Wordpress tips/tricks posts that have proven ridiculously useful to me over the years.

http://delicious.com/atourworst/wordpress - I've tried to keep this updated but I tend to forget about Delicious. There are still a lot of good resources I've managed to save and usually the site that the post was from is known to blog a lot about Wordpress in general.

Don't worry to much about MySQL databases. It's honestly VERY easy and once you accomplish that, you'll be so proud of yourself :p.

http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/wordpress/how-to-set-up-a-killer-wordpress-testing-environment-locally/

http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/web-roundups/10-hand-picked-tutorials-for-beginning-web-designers/

http://net.tutsplus.com/freebies/cheat-sheets/wordpress-cheat-sheat/

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Thank you. I was leaning that way - at the very least because its so popular. Its good to hear you recommend it and it seems its -most important for me- easy to administer. If the MySQL DB is going to be fairly easy, then I'll go for it too. I think with all the theme templates and plugins especially for WordPress I prob won't have to worry about customization. ;) I should be able to hack a nice website - I just haven't made any websites for 5 years so I have to relearn some of it.

Don't worry to much about MySQL databases. It's honestly VERY easy and once you accomplish that, you'll be so proud of yourself :p.

I already have a big enough ego. I don't think setting up a MySQL DB for my website is going to give me much of a boost. Maybe a 1.0% boost?! ;)

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Wordpress seems right for your, exporting and importing posts is as easy as ABC.

You're not going to get anything else easier to manage (and more powerful) than Wordpress. Trust me :)

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Wordpress, definitely.

Out of every CMS I've encountered, it offers the best functionality, array of plugins, and overall user experience. The ACP is VERY nice compared to the likes of say, Joomla (another CMS), and it should be perfect for your needs; if not out of the box, than with a bit of tweaking which shouldn't be too hard with the array of plugins and support for it out there. (Y)

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Wordpress, definitely.

Out of every CMS I've encountered, it offers the best functionality, array of plugins, and overall user experience. The ACP is VERY nice compared to the likes of say, Joomla (another CMS), and it should be perfect for your needs; if not out of the box, than with a bit of tweaking which shouldn't be too hard with the array of plugins and support for it out there. (Y)

Agreed, wordpress would fit your requirements well, and it's never failed me. I reccomend it to all clients/friends (Y)

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