Ask HN: What is the best hosted blogging service?

1 points by null_ptr 13y ago ↗ HN

I want to start blogging about programming, and am wading through what's out there. I used to host Wordpress but I don't want to bother with that anymore. I want something that's managed for me, is customizable and friendly for both writer and reader, and allows exporting the data for personal backups.

Tumblr is free and customizable from theme to domain and has no ads. Their commenting system is a bit awkward, something about the culture of "like" and "reblog" rubs me the wrong way.

Wordpress.com does not seem to allow absolute theme control even with the $100/year Pro package, although I might be wrong - their store page could be clearer.

Posthaven is new and unproven. Going to their website I can't find a list of what $60/year gets me. Do I get to use my own domain or am I stuck with username.posthaven.com?

Blogger does not allow custom themes or domains from what I know, and I remember them pushing some very backwards JS-heavy designs a while ago.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

4 comments

[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 17.8 ms ] thread

hardwaresofton 13y ago ↗

Maybe you should look into medium and svbtle? they seem to be gaining some traction, especially here

__sam 13y ago ↗

Not everyone can use Medium and Svbtle. Medium, as of now, is invite only. But they do claim they will offer it as a public platform soon. Svbtle is application only. See their website.

I would recommend SquareSpace, although it is $8/mo for a standard user.

This is correct - I didn't realize Medium was still invite only

A little away from topic, it seems, but -- https://coderwall.com/ ?

projectdelphai 13y ago ↗

It's easier to do on linux than on windows, but if you're willing to do some work to get it set up, Octopress on Github is becoming a popular option. More for developers than for casual blogging though.