Cosmo Digital

So, now that I have completed my tests, is there a single "blog" that I will recommend to the exclusion of all others? No, there isn't. Rather, each web log I tested has its own benefits and drawbacks. A short summary of these for each site is below:

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Blogger.com
Pros:
- ability to register with no information other than an e-mail address. Very nice if you like your personal information to stay private
- very slick interface

Cons:
- unable to make simple changes to the site design without manually editing the template, which requires good CSS knowledge.
- Difficult to upload images, such as for the site header, without editing the template.

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Livejournal.com
Pros:
- Very easy to customize simple aspects of the page, such as colors
- Many options for managing user comments

Cons:
- Inability to easily load in a header image, although small graphics can be used.
-True template customization via CSS or XML prevented, and is apparantly limited to only paying users.

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Myspace.com
Pros:
- Excellent customization options for the "blog" portion, with far more options than the other two sites.
- Uploading photos and meeting other people is emphasized and made to be as easy as possible, unlike the other two sites which mention photos or graphics only in passing.

Cons:
- Horrific site design, using multiple nested tables and producing multiple errors and hundreds of warnings on my browser's code validator.
- Easy Customization options for the "blog" do not extend into the User Profile. Instead, the difficult process of tweaking a stylesheet embedded into one of the User Profile settings is done instead, and is more trial and error than anything else due to the nasty tables.

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So, if I was forced to pick one of these three, I would choose Livejournal.com. The reason for this is it did allow customization of templates (unlike Blogger.com), and it did so in a fairly easy manner that did not require hardcore CSS skills. Furthermore, any design changes I made using this feature in Livejournal applied to the entire "blog", unlike Myspace.com and its profile page.

However, even this site is limited in many areas. I would certainly never give up my personal site in order to use one of these. Thus, my final conclusion must be that if you want to have control over the design of your website, than you should get a hosting company, a domain name, and do it yourself.

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