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Should all web pages be blogs?
I've been thinking of turning my Ethnic Dining Guide into a blog. It would be searchable by category and would allow for comments. It would be updated regularly rather than every six months. Can you give me any software advice? Is Typepad the best choice? I need a large number of categories and the ability to update posts without spending huge amounts of time searching. And could readers print the whole thing out without it running into hundreds of pages? Comments are open...
Posted by Tyler Cowen on February 7, 2006 at 07:14 PM in Web/Tech | Permalink
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Comments
Look at squarespace.com. It appears promising.
Posted by: David Andersen at Feb 7, 2006 7:36:54 PM
Try PBwiki. I have a vested interest (I'm a co-founder), but it's free and it's unbelievably easy to setup/edit. You can let your readers add their own recipes, or just comment on yours. We have a free version of PBwiki and a Premium version.
Here's another recipe PBwiki: http://tasteyrooster.pbwiki.com/Sample
Get your own at http://www.pbwiki.com.
Posted by: Ramit at Feb 7, 2006 7:46:34 PM
You could use MediaWiki, which is the same software that powers Wikipedia. (NB you do not have to allow others to edit the entries). It's free software, and available at http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki. It's not a blog, per se, but I think it would work well.
Posted by: Eli at Feb 7, 2006 7:46:57 PM
I say you should at least try it as a wiki, to get used to the process (and why not experiment? You could always uninstall it later).
Spam can be a problem for a wiki, just as comment spam is a problem for blogs.
Posted by: Macneil at Feb 7, 2006 7:49:53 PM
I agree -- a limited-rights wiki is the way to go.
Posted by: Ted at Feb 7, 2006 8:38:19 PM
I really think you should stick with TypePad. It is a very powerful service, is constantly being upgraded, and you already know how to use it. TypePad is also so configurable that it is not difficult to use it as a general content management system instead of just as a blog.
Posted by: Jacqueline at Feb 7, 2006 8:44:12 PM
I was going to suggest a rights-restricted wiki as well. PBWiki is the only thing ive played around with.
Though one thought: what I like about blogs is their interactiveness. ie: RSS feeds, trackbacks, comments etc... The other virtue of a blog is that there are many other "food" blogs our there that would track you blog, link to it, comment etc... I have not seen this level of interactiveness with a wiki. So I think that a blog with categories for (1) types of food, (2) stars/ranking, and (3) price range would be very effective.
... it would only be a matter of time before you were getting free meals.
Posted by: Pablo at Feb 7, 2006 9:36:57 PM
If you do, would you mind putting in photos? Thanks.
Posted by: mack at Feb 7, 2006 11:15:29 PM
WordPress, baby! :) All the content is stored in a database, not static pages, so it's much easier to massage. There's also about 8 jillion plug-ins and it's free.
http://www.wordpress.org
If you want more user involvement (which IMO a dining guide screams for), try Drupal.
http://www.drupal.org
Posted by: Derek Scruggs at Feb 8, 2006 12:03:11 AM
I ditto the Wordpress suggestion. There's a Wordpress plugin that dynamically generates PDFs of posts, which users could easily print out: http://wp2pdf.sourceforge.net/
I think that a wiki, although suited to the "knowledgebase" format of a recipe collection, won't get as much user involvement (unless you open up editing priveleges, in which case you run the risk of some prankster telling folks to use 3 eggs instead of 2). I personally find the comments on sites like allrecipes.com or epicurious.com to be at least as helpful as the recipes themselves, because they often give suggestions for variations or helpful tips. Going with a blog format allows similar interactivity.
Also I agree with the poster that says use photos liberally. People often buy cookbooks based on the pictures, after all. The easiest way I've found to do this is to upload photos to an external service like Flickr and use a Wordpress plugin to link to them and show thumbnails.
Posted by: Lee at Feb 8, 2006 12:29:33 AM
I think the problem with a blog for this purpose is that a blog is organized by date of posting. There are usually ways to to mess with the software to organize by category or some other field, but it gets complicated.
Posted by: Tom at Feb 8, 2006 1:17:47 AM
My 2 cents after 2+ years of blogging...
Consider not bothering with lots of categories and meta-data. Google doesn't care, the users don't notice, and you'll be stuck trying to pigeon-hole the Ethiopian-Jamaican fusion cuisine you had last night.
Only bother with categories if it is of some content management benefit to you personally at some later date.
Posted by: Martin Geddes at Feb 8, 2006 2:14:52 AM
Looking for a simple easy-to-use blogging CMS? Try WordPress ( http://www.wordpress.org ).
Looking for a full-fledged CMS with more bells and whistles and much more tweakable? Go with Drupal ( http://drupal.org ).
Posted by: Varun at Feb 8, 2006 5:04:31 AM
I personally would recommmend against using a blog, and would rather recommend the use of a wiki. It seems perfect for the ethnic food guide (of which I'm a huge fan), and would allow people local to the DC area, as well as visitors post their own reviews. Ideally, it would be somewhat self-sustaining.
I'd recommend something quick and easy, perhaps Instiki.org.
If you do decide to stick with a blog, I'd recommend either Typepad, or Yahoo offers a hosted version MovableType. As a web designer, I'd stay away from Wordpress, as I feel the interface lacks any visual priority, and can be somewhat less than intuitive.
My .02
Oh, and to answer your larger question. Their are a lot more sites out there that should be blogs, than actually are.
Posted by: Kyle at Feb 8, 2006 9:48:38 AM
Hello dear honorable professor Tyler Cowen,
Please don't pay any attention to the commentators above my own comment --and to the commentators below mine, too.
It's obvious that what you need is an open-source HTML editor, like Nvu, so as to be able to set up a website from scratch, while being totally free to architecture the backbone of your dining guide.
http://www.nvu.com/
If you go to my website, you'll see that stuff is archived by category first, and then by date. That's what I chose. But there is an infinite number of possibilities. With an HTML editor, you're free as a bird.
A wiki is an easy-to-use HTML editor. I don't like its look and feel. Not professional.
Posted by: Chris. F. Masse .COM at Feb 8, 2006 12:58:12 PM
Your dining guide is a great resource! As a user I think it would be even better if it was easier to navigate. I can't recommend a particular blogging application, wiki or cms. However, I think you should look for something that supports tagging. For example, I'd love to be able to quickly find everything tagged "fairfax" and "indian."
Posted by: Peter at Feb 8, 2006 1:05:32 PM
With all the posts trumpeting their own products, this has all the makings of a great experiment in political economy. Let the bidding begin.
Posted by: Matt E. Ryan at Feb 8, 2006 2:17:53 PM
so, you want to turn your ethnic food page into Chowhound?
www.chowhound.com
Posted by: michael at Feb 8, 2006 3:11:56 PM
I use Squarespace for my business. The ability to add structure to the site - ie standalone text pages, forums, galleries is very powerful if you're after something which offers more than just a blog.
Posted by: Bishop Hill at Feb 8, 2006 3:17:15 PM
I highly recommend using "tags" in lieu (or in addition to) categories.
I've been wanting this for so long, I will personally volunteer to build the damn thing for you. (And host it.)
I can whip up a proof-of-concept if you want.
Posted by: Joe Grossberg at Feb 8, 2006 4:07:53 PM
tags seems like a good idea. then you could have the site searchable not only by type of cuisine, but also by location. or both. seems like someone in nova looking for good mexican (or whatever) on short notice has no use for montgomery county's results turning up. making the site searchable by location would be ideal.
Posted by: k at Feb 8, 2006 10:53:21 PM
Having read through parts of your ethnic food guide, I would say that the idea of categories, etc, would be great. Although, using Google Toolbar with the highlighting is a fairly effective way to search through it, creating your own searchable function may prove more useful. The ability to search not only by food type, but also by area would vastly improve the quality of the guide.
I think the best possible setup would be to give you a semi-controlled tagable wiki site. Essentially, you would have a locked access for your review and which restaraunts make the list, as well as comments about the restaraunt in general. Then such information as the address, phone number, user reviews, and even menu items. Basically, allow others who spend more time in the restaraunts to post more information than you care to add, all while allowing your opinion to reign supreme.
Unfortunately, I cannot offer you advice on how to set up such a site, as that is out of my realm of expertise, but I still think it's a good idea.
Posted by: David at Feb 9, 2006 4:31:36 AM
It depends what the site is about, you get a lot of rude idiots on the internet
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