you’d think for how simple and infrequent my blog posts are, i’d have a much easier time finding a blogging engine that i like…but i’m picky. i needed one that was small, easy to visually customize, and didn’t require a ton of effort to post on. dreamwidth fits the second two criteria, but i wanted something i could host on my own site, just because i prefer journal posts, which tend to be more personal, to be hosted on my own site. dreamwidth gets a fraction of the traffic of other social blogging sites but it still feels a little too Public for me to feel totally comfortable posting more personal or emotional topics. i’m still keeping my DW account for commenting and interacting with people there, but i think i’m gonna house my own posts on my own site now.
i’ve played around with some other free blogging tools like FlatPress and HTMLy but customizing the CSS was too clunky. and then i tried out Zonelets, but i didn’t like how many steps were involved in posting. no disrespect to Zonelets or its creator though! i’m just lazy :^D i also like having some kind of CMS for a journal just because it’s easier on my brain, especially now that i’m on lamotrigine and seem to get confused easier than i used to…more on that at a later date lol
so anyway, i’m using Textpattern as of right now, and it seems to hit all of my criteria! customizing it was really confusing at first but i think i sorta understand how it works now? i understand it well enough to start posting with it, anyway :p my next step is to configure a plugin that will let me use all the deviantart smileys i saved ages ago; i’ve been trying to figure out an efficient way to use them on my site for like….3 years now!!