Hello,

As always, if this is not the right forum, please move to the appropriate place.

I've been trying to decide which blogging software to use. I've played with Wordpress, but I've been reading (http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001105.html) lately that it's resource-intensive, which makes me want to avoid it possibly (is this true?). I've tried to find som erecent (as in, late 2007 or 2008) comparisons or reviews of the different options out there, but I'm not having much luck. Can anyone point me to such a source, or does anyone have any comments in this regard? Thanks!

Richard

Wordpress is simply the best and I do not think its resource intensive. WP is the easiest blogging tool available ! I wouldn't go in for anything else.

I'm not sure, as I haven't done any benchmarks, but I've seen lots of Wordpress sites fail under pressure. This could be due to the server configuration. So, as with any pre-made application, you will need to do optimization when expecting high traffic.

Wordpress is not resource intensive but when getting a lot request you should take measures to avoid problems, this counts for any blog software.

Best way to avoid problems when receiving a lot of visitors is to install a cache plugin, i.e. wp-cache or wp-super-cache.

Due the nature of wordpress it is easy to add plugins which might be resource intensive but this is the cause of the plugins which have little to do with wordpress except they are written for it by third party developers.

So i would advise to find a host which supports Wordpress, and does not oversell its servers so databases have still fast responses.

Hope this will help you.

Hello,

in addition to the plugins mentioned, I would like to mention that you should use one for spam control. As blogs are a popular target nowadays, if your blog receives a lot of spam this can increase the resources but all at all a normal Wordpress website does not require too much resources.

If you want to take a look at other blog solutions, I would suggest Drupal (its popularity among blogs is increasing day by day), b2evolution and Movable type. I do not say they are better but they have a lot to offer.

Good luck!

WP is it resources intensive, it does makes a lot of queries per page load, for that reason, it can be a problem for a popular blog to be hosted on a regular shared account. (with popular I mean over 20000 unique per day). However, not many blogs have that kind of traffic :). If you add to that, poorly coded hacks/addon/plugins, you may have problems if your blog gets popular.

I'm not sure, as I haven't done any benchmarks, but I've seen lots of Wordpress sites fail under pressure. This could be due to the server configuration. So, as with any pre-made application, you will need to do optimization when expecting high traffic.

For boards such as wordpress additional plugins may cause the issue such as high cpu/memory usage, affecting other accounts.

I wouldn't go in for anything else.

I would as i am getting so annoyed with their new updates poping up like every 2nd week, its insanely annoying to see new update for wordpress and that annoying message "please update ur out of luck"

You can use Drupal to create professional blog as well as MODx. But you need to have a certain level of programming skills.

Why not something easy like simple php blog. Unless you're getting a ridiculous amount of hits or have a ridiculous amount of blog postings, are you really stressing your resources?

http://www.simplephpblog.com/

You can use Drupal to create professional blog as well as MODx. But you need to have a certain level of programming skills.

If WP is a resource hog, well, Drupal and Joomla are resources elephants, both use a lot of RAM mostly on each page load, and make many many more queries than WP.

Well, I've installed the new Movable Type Personal (which my host, Downtownhost, says is not the best choice in terms of resource usage), as well as Textpattern. I'll play with both and give you folks my own impressions eventually. Does anyone have any comments regarding these two?

Richard

Stay away from Joomla

For blogging I would go with either Movable Type or Wordpress. Your user intense blog sites generally utilize one of the two. The other is ExpressionEngine which is growing in popularity as well and has a pretty impressive client list.

One thing is for sure - make sure the blog software is actively being updated.

I'm a big Wordpress Fan!

I am running wordpress on my idol blog which receives 10 to 30k uniques a day. If I was just using the core version, it would not be resource intensive and a shared option or VPS might work. I do however use many plugins that add to the load and had to put my blog on a dedicated server with a separate dedicated database server.

I do know that wp related posts plugin does cause a major load on servers if your site has a lot of traffic. it cripled the imountain database server the other night.

Personally though I have tried moveable type and expression engine and like wordpress the best of the 3.

I have also heard that joomla is very resource intensive

Good luck with whatever you pick :)

Stay away from Joomla

Strange comment, first of all Joomla is not a piece of blog software but a CMS (which is quite a bit more as a blog). Same counts for Drupal. Those are not pure blog applications like Movable Type or Wordpress but Content Management systems, tools for building complete websites with all ins and outs (and pro's and con's coming with them).

Well, I made my choice. Please be warned: the following commentary is extremely subjective, and in fact, is based more on feeling than anything else, as I've only played with it a bit.

I've decided to stick with Textpattern. I like the sparse interface, which to me reacted quicker than wp or mt. MT especially was a bit slow, what with having to "republish" the site every time change was done. Yes, I know that that's the idea (have static pages instead of dynamic), but for my very-low-traffic site, that wasn't a concern for me.

Also, from what I've read, TXP doesn't get much comment spam. Yes, I know that partly this is due to security through obscurity, but hey, I can live with that.

The plugin system couldn't be easier. Just copy some garbled text into a box, and it automagically converts it to php code that is used by the site. No files to upload (usually), and you can easily modify the code directly from the TXP admin interface.

So... there's my quick review, based on very little usage. I'll update this eventaully once I've played with it some more.

Richard

Well please provide us a follow-up on your selection after a few weeks/months. Always good to know what software people enjoy using and how it helps their progress.

It looks like I'm late to the party and Richard has already made his choice, but I'll throw in my two cents anyway.

WordPress is not resource intensive, but many plugins developed by third parties are. 99% of the problems people ever have with WordPress can be solved by deactivating a bad plugin.

For those concerned as to whether WordPress is able to handle the Digg effect or any other wave of traffic, the answer is it can, without a shadow of a doubt. It often requires the assistance of the WP-Super-Cache plugin (for the love of mankind please switch to Super-Cache if you're still using WP-Cache) but rest assured, it will handle a large load for sustained periods as long as it has a good home (server) to sit on.

I've used nearly 15 different types of blogging software over the years and nothing comes close to WordPress, both in out of the box power and the support it has from the community for future expansion through plugins, and the support it has from the community for offline events such as WordCamps (the WordPress conferences).

I would as i am getting so annoyed with their new updates poping up like every 2nd week, its insanely annoying to see new update for wordpress and that annoying message "please update ur out of luck"

Much of which is probably related to the recent release of 2.5, although I have to say, 2.5 is probably one of the most stable releases of software I've ever come across. About the only thing that caused a problem in the release was the media uploader, which I believe has now been fixed in 2.5.1. :)

WordPress rules. :D

Leave it to Jamie to chime in a bit late but effective none-the-less. Da'Gum boy get on top of things. :)

Leave it to Jamie to chime in a bit late but effective none-the-less. Da'Gum boy get on top of things. :)

I may be late to the party, but I had four drinks before I arrived so it's all good. :cool:

Well, here's another update in case anyone's interested.

After playing with it a bit more and readin ga book on Textpattern, I've decided that it's not for me. Here are my reasons why:

1) I have already hand-coded most of my site; I don't feel like having to "re-do" that work in TXP, even if it may potentially save me a bit of work down the road.
2) Most of my site is a static site, except for a "News" section, so it seems a bit overkill now on further thought to have a CMS. Whatever changes I make will be minor additions or corrections to individual pages, which i can do directly in the individual html file by hand.
3) some things I just don't like. For example, it renames any image files you upload to 1.jpg, 2.jpg, etc., ostensibly to make sure that duplicate file names don't occur. I understand the usefulness of this in a multi-author environment, but it doesn't make sense in my case.

So... While I am not knocking TXP in general (it'd be great for a dynamic, always changing site with different sections, such as a store or something), it just isn't the right thing for me. So, I think I'll install wordpress or something similar for my little "News" section.

Thanks for reading,

Richard

Vote 1 - Wordpress

WordPress is not resource intensive, but many plugins developed by third parties are. 99% of the problems people ever have with WordPress can be solved by deactivating a bad plugin.

I agree 1000%

The wordpress itself is very lean. But the plugins sometimes
are just horrible.

They are the one resource hog.

Out of the box, WP is the best choice, you can never go wrong.
(Although decision has been made)

Ive used wordpress before quite alot and i think thats your best bet.

Wordpress themes are easy to find on the internet and to modify em its well easy.

Vote number 2 goes to wordpress :)