Blog Info

GENERAL INFORMATION

Start Date:  October 2006

Hopefully the following information can be helpful as you navigate the site.  Since I’m no computer expert and since I know that there are at least some people like me out there, I’ll speak in the simplest of terms (I couldn’t speak the technical jargon if I wanted to, anyway).

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN XANGA AND WORDPRESS

Those of you who are more used to the Xanga community where my blog used to be hosted will notice some differences with the WordPress setup.  There are some aspects that are better and some that are worse.  I’ll try to summarize some of the differences as well as offer my best solutions to some of the changes that were for the worse.

Changes for the Better:

1. No advertisements at the top of the screen.  I assume that the upper-end Xanga sites (the ones you pay for) don’t have rotating advertisements at the top of the blog.  Mine wasn’t one of those.  The ads were sometimes questionable, too.  WordPress doesn’t have any ads, which is a definite plus.
2. “Categories” for better organization of archives.  Although it’s a simple thing, I really like having links to categorized archives.  My Xanga site only had a search-by-date function, which basically made the archives inaccessible.
3. A more professional, clean look.  I actually really liked the simple look of my Xanga site, but that’s because I had set it up that way.  My WordPress template looked even cleaner and more professional before I ever touched it.
4. Breakout pages where I can store more information (like “Poems”).  In some ways, this blog is more like having a personal website with point-and-click designing capacity.  I can design multiple pages which can store information and writings beyond just chronological posts, and I can do it without having to know anything about web design (which I don’t).  I’m sure at some point I’ll hit my limited storage amount, but I’m assuming that that won’t be for awhile since the content is all text, with an occasional picture.
5. More opportunity for comments and discussion.  Xanga makes you register with them and get a blog before you can comment.  This discourages comments and discussion, for obvious reasons.  With WordPress, anyone can comment.

Changes for the Worse:

1. No simple subscription option.  For those of you who are even minimally computer-savvy, this will make you laugh.  WordPress has RSS capability, unlike my free Xanga site, which means that it’s much easier to set yourself up to get automatic updates from the site.  But for those of us who are behind and slow when it comes to these types of things, Xanga’s simple “subscription” option is convenient.  The only solution I have for this change is that I’m going to have to learn about RSS.  And so will you if you want to keep “subscribing.”  Or you can just do it the old fashioned way — open your web browser each time and type in www.rawchristianity.com. :)
2. The inconvenience of transferring a blog.  This has nothing to do with the differences between Xanga and WordPress, but it’s simply a pain to transfer any website.  People are used to going to a certain web address, they have links, they have “subscriptions” and RSS feeds, etc.  Transferring blogs kind of tosses a wrench into all of that.  But my hope is that the improvements will outweigh the inconveniences of the transfer.
3. Less connection with the The Master’s College Xanga Blogring.  One of the main reasons I started a Xanga blog was to be a part of the TMC blogging community as an extention of my ministry as a Resident Director.  I didn’t click around on other people’s blogs very often, but from time to time I tried to make sure that I was in touch with what people were thinking and saying.  I’ll still do that sometimes, I’m sure, but not having an active Xanga site will make me more disconnected.  I’d prefer that it not be this way, but I’m content with the situation because (1) it will still be easy for me to keep up with the TMC blog world; (2) it’s not hard to find this site, especially since I’ve posted a link to it from my Xanga site; and (3) the advantages listed above.