Blog alternatives

[Kwyjibo]

So I have a online journal on diaryland. I like it and all, I get to make it fancy (for a fee) but there's a problem. For weeks at a time the company I work for blocks diaryland as a restricted site.

I don't even have an ISP at home, I don't need it I have plenty of free internet use at work. But I need an alternative to diaryland so I can update when I want.

I know several folks that have online journals that they themselves have set up. So, I'd like to know how that works. Here are the general questions.

Where do you go to get the server space?
How much server space does one typically need (not at all graphics intensive)?
What are the costs involved?
I assume there is some kind of software that is necessary to keep and maintain a journal, where do I get it?
Is it costly?

So many questions so many questions.

[vicious]

i have my main blog on a private server owned by a friend of mine. mostly so no one can really find it unless i give them the address. since the guy's a friend, the space is free, as is having him design it for me.

i know this isn't an option for everyone, but there are plenty of other servers besides diaryland and LJ that you can use. or you could always buy your own domain name, but i'm not sure what the costs are like on something like that. there are a lot of blog servers that i'm pretty sure are free, though - like freeopendiary, blogspot, and the like. i'm pretty sure some folks on here use some of them - so hopefully people will respond with a little more info than i can give.

[Bryan]

If you want to set it up yourself on a private site, you're looking at about $13 a month for basic hosting and figure the software will be free but you'll have to set it up yourself. Hosting will also come with email accounts. Regarding server space, even the smallest web hosting account will give you 100 MB which should be more than plenty for a small blog. Good/cheap hosts include:

www.modwest.com (recommended by me)
www.liquidweb.com
www.hostway.com

Some of the blog software packages require a MySQL database so if the software package you choose requires that, make sure that your web hosting plan includes it.

Good software packages include:

http://www.moveabletype.org
http://www.noahgrey.com/greysoft/

I believe both are free for non-commercial use. There are a plethora of packages out there, some free and those that are not are normally under $50.

Once it's set up it should run itself and then your only recurring cost is the webhosting. If you want your own domain name, count on another $20-35 a year for registration. Normally when you sign up for a web hosting account they will give you the option of registering a domain name as part of the process.