WordPress 2.6.1 update

I know, I know,…. it has been a while since my last post, and I promise to correct this, but I figured I would let you know that Wordpress has been upgraded to a new version.  You can read about it it here.

annual blog migration post

I’ve been considering the possibility of migrating this blog to a different service. Typepad has been really good to me, but I think I’ve outgrown it. I’d like to have more control over the blog’s innards. I’ve been on TypePad for years, but a couple of years ago I decided to play with WordPress.

If you check my archives, you’ll see this is not a quick decision. I’ve been considering it since 2005. It seems I always think about this topic at this time of year. Do a search for WordPress over on the right to see how long I’ve been thinking about it.

There are two (actually three) types of WordPress. The Wordpress I talk about, is WordPress.org. It’s a free download, but requires that you have a host for the files, and you must install it. The other is WordPress.com. This is also free, but it’s like Typepad in that you have a lot less control over things. No download necessary,… takes less than five minutes to get a blog. The third WordPress is a multiple users version and is generally used by big companies like the New York Times (blogs).

All of this is to say, that I will definitely be moving the blog over to WordPress, but before I quit Typepad, I’ll need to find out how to move my Typepad Photos blog.

I don’t think I mentioned my hosting service, which has been really fantastic. They have been so good, that I have one of their tags at the bottom of my whispers blog. They’re called HostM.

Best Web Hosting by

Official Hosting Partner

new blog commitment

I’m trying something interesting over at my new blog. I’ve committed to posting there at least every other day.

The new blog is called Whispers and though it’s not ready for prime time, you can find it here.

I’m enjoying playing with setting it up. WordPress is really cool.

software comparisons

I’ve been testing out WordPress as a blogging software for a couple of months now and am pretty impressed. Initially I was having problems with trackback, but when the program was upgraded recently to 1.5.1, the problem disappeared.

As far as differences go, Typepad is easy to set up and start blogging. WordPress is easy to set up too, but you have to have your own hosting service. You also have more control over the look of your site with WordPress as compared with the TypePad basic service, but you need to know more.

I just recently discovered that WP has future posting. Which means, you can write a post and set a date and time for it to be posted. I’m not sure is Typepad allows this or not. I’ll give it a quick test now.

Nope,… doesn’t seem to work in basic. As soon as I hit publish, even though the time has not arrived, it publishes.

upgrade

I’ve just upgraded to version 1.51. By following the directions here, it seemed very easy. I am now wondering if this upgrade has fixed the trackback problem I am having.

For this test, I’m going to try and trackback to the previous posting calledChanging Blog Platforms. I’m hoping it works because I don’t like the b2evolution that much.

BINGO. The trackback worked!!! I’m a very happy camper.

I tried sending a trackback from b2e but it doesn’t show up. Hmmm… I’ll try from blogger and see if that works.

changing blog platforms

As much as I like WordPress, the trackback (or rather the poor functioning of trackback) is a killer for me. I don’t want to have to work at getting trackback to work,… especially since it is so easy to use in other forms (Typepad (via MarsEdit), Blogger etc.). I may try setting up b2evolution which seems a little more complicated but also more full featured.

There is one more thing I’d like to try though. I’ll see if trackback works using MarsEdit. No, it doesn’t.

I’ve downloaded b2evolution and it does take some getting used to, but I’ll play with it anyway. Perhaps WP will fix their trackback sooner than later, and yes,… b2e trackback works.

sharing or not

Went in to work today. Still not up to par (me that is). Made a lot of progress with the hosting service. Apparently they had a script for installing WordPress and it worked like a charm.

I haven’t written much on the political front mostly because I don’t want to aggravate myself, but also because I’ve been thinking that I should focus on what positive stuff our side believes in. It seems to me that the two sides are divided by two basic differences in how we view the world. It’s like most of us learned about sharing and looking out for others (especially those less fortunate than ourselves), while others kind of got stuck in the looking out for themselves only. The thing is, looking out for others is not as altruistic as it first seems. Looking out for others means, others are looking out for you. It’s a contract between the individual and the society.

posting from MarsEdit

I don’t have a lot of hope that this will work but here goes. Just changed my mind. I found the answers on the WordPress forum.