Let’s take it from the source:

A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an avatar image that follows you from weblog to weblog appearing beside your name when you comment on gravatar enabled sites. Avatars help identify your posts on web forums, so why not on weblogs?

From a community members point of view, what’s cool about gravatars is that you don’t have to upload your avatar image on every blog, forum or community that you are a member of. And from the community owner’s point of view, you can now add a little pizazz to your blog or forum with your members gravatars.

You can read more about gravatars in the magazine.

In a nutshell:

Both are web based applications/software designed to allow many people to contribute content (typically articles … but podcast and videos are becoming more common) to a website.

I would say the basic difference is that a CMS (Ex: Drupal) is a closed system where only certain people can add or edit content to the website/cms.

On the other hand, a wiki is an open system where anyone can edit and add content. The idea behind a wiki is that the masses will eventually correct any false information – with the help of editors.

My thoughts:

I’m no wiki expert, but I see wiki’s being more suitable to general encyclopedic information. If you need a tighter structure and control over what is being posted on your site, I would be leaning towards a CMS rather than a WIKI.

That said, I am sure that the differences between the two types of software has room for a lot of gray area – I’m sure some CMS software have WIKI like functionality and vice versa.

How about blogs?

Blogs are kinda like a CMS for one person. One other distinction would be that the blog traditionally is date driven – where newer articles are posted to the front page of the blog. As with the WIKI/CMS blurring of the lines, you see the same with blogs and CMS software.

For example: Wordpress (a popular blog program) has CMS like features:

• Multiple users can post articles.
• You can have static non date affected pages. Wordpress call these ‘pages’.

Beyond the CMS-like features built into the core Wordpress package, Wordpress has a huge number of plug-ins out there that extend it’s capability considerably … bringing it even closer inline with a true CMS.

A few links:

Wordpress home page: www.wordpress.org
Drupal home page: http://drupal.org
Another popular CMS – Joomla: joomla.org
Wiki software: Media Wiki

Ciao,

Stefan Mischook

www.killersites.com

I was just looking around the CMS and Blog scene, in terms of software, and I just finished taking another look at Drupal 6.

… Based on what I’ve seen so far, it looks very cool.

With this version of Drupal (Drupal 6.2) you see a lot of administration panel improvements and the whole process of installing and configuring Drupal has been streamlined. It is actually really easy.

Drupal 6 has a lot of other cool additions and tools like:

• Built in triggers: you can tell Drupal to do things when say for example someone post a comment.
• Better Forums: more features now.
• Drag-and-drop admin UI capabilities. It is easier to manage where things appear on your pages.

… And much more.

Most important, Drupal looks to be much faster than it was in previous versions.

… That’s one thing that bugged the hell out of me about old and slow Drupal 5.

You can get Drupal at: http://drupal.org/

I know, short post. I’m just busy with other stuff.

Thanks,

Stefan Mischook

www.killersites.com

1. Can you describe your introduction to blogging, how you became interested how has it impacted you personally?

I first heard about blogging in about 2001 and dismissed it as another tool for people who didn’t want to learn HTML. A year or so later, I realized the significance of blogging and blogging software:

… it was going allow for the original vision of the Web to actually materialize, where anyone could easily get a website on the Web.

Blogs and the blog phenomenon, made me rethink my whole approach to web design as a web professional: blogs, CMS and other similar content formatting tools where the future of web design.

2. From a business perspective, how do you think blogging can positively impact communications, sales and corporate image?

Blogs offer a great way to connect with your audience/client base in a informal and personal manner. These days, traditional hard-sell tactics of marketing are quickly becoming dated … now businesses have to engage with their audience.

Just as a programmer can get away with wearing jeans to work, blogs allow companies to communicate with the public in a less restricted context.

3. What is the best advice you can give an individual or business who is considering starting a blog?

Find someone in your company who:

1. Knows your products/services.
2. Is fun to be around.
3. Can write and communicate well.

Keep the content of the blog peripheral to your companies core. Remember the soft-sell principle and try to engage with the audience honestly.

Setting up a blog:

You have two basic options:

Go through the trouble of (1,) setting up your own blog or use a (2,) blogging service like killerblogs.com where you can roll out a blog in record time.

Another advantage of going with a blogging community, is that you can take advantage of the community to spread the word about your blog and your business.

4. What industry sites and blogs do you read regularly?

Mostly technology related and international news: CNN, MSNBC.

5. What are your favorite blog development tools or applications?

From my experience (not that I have tested every blog tool out there,) Wordpress is probably the best choice out their today because it is:

1. Mature – clean code and refined functionality.
2. The Wordpress community is big … lots of resources.

Another option that I have played a little bit is Drupal. Drupal is really a full-blown CMS (content management system,) but it can easily be setup to act as a simple blog.

… One advantage that Drupal has over a simple blog, is that it can be later expanded to do things that a blog might not be able to handle.

6. Can you name 5 tips for successful blogging?

1. Be honest.
2. Be sincere.
3. Keep the writing on topic.
4. Keep the the writing concise – people are impatient on the Web.
5. Be regular with your articles.

7. Can you name five common mistakes in blogging?

The opposite of the above 5 tips.

8. What is the best way to get a new blog promoted?

In the real-estate world the top 3 rules are:

1. location
2. location
3. location

In the blogging world, the top 3 rules:

1. content
2. content
3. content

If you have good content on your blog, people will talk about it and it will spread. The Web is about viral marketing.

9. What is the relationship between your web site and your blogs? How are they interconnected? How does the blog expand upon your website?

My blog allows me to discus topics related to my core business in a editorial manner – I can be informal. In addition, the blog is a great place for me to fill in the gaps that I may have missed in the main site and it creates another contact point for my readers. Blogs provide another style of presentation that appeals to a different audience than the main site.

10. What do you think is the future of Blogging?

I think that blogging will continue to become more and more important because of how easy they make building a website and because they provide an informal bridge between a business and the public.

Beyond traditional text based blogs, I think that video and audio blogging are moving mainstream.

Thanks,

Stefan Mischook

www.killersites.com

I’ve mentioned several times in the past 2 years, that web designers should learn how to use/edit at least one blog or CMS. Some popular choices:

• Wordpress – a blog.
• Drupal – a CMS.
• Mambo – a CMS

.. And there are many, many more.

Why should web designers be concerned?

I won’t go into all the details here, but in a nutshell, a lot of web sites can use the features/functionality provided by blogs or CMS packages. Why reinvent the wheel?

That said, what is the difference between a blog and a CMS?

Blogs vs. CMS

First, let me start by defining a blog:

A blog is a web-based software that allows users to create web pages through a web interface – you enter text into an HTML form and that text is placed into pages.

… The pages that you add to a blog, are date ordered and (are typically) stored in an SQL database .. like MySQL for example.

From the popular Wordpress site:

A blog is a frequently updated, personal website featuring diary-type commentary and links to articles on other Web sites. Blogs range from the personal to the political, and can focus on one narrow subject or a whole range of subjects.

Blogs have been created with several languages: PHP, Perl, Python etc. Wordpress for example, is written in PHP.

… Actually, PHP is probably the most commonly used language for building blog and CMS software.

So what is a CMS?

In a nutshell: a CMS does everything a blog does … and a whole lot more.

Blogs are typically designed for one or two people to use. Whereas a CMS is designed to handle communities.

Blogs = few contributors/writers
CMS = many contributors/writers.

CMS software will have a lot more capability in terms of what kind of activities you can do with it:

• User polling.
• Built in blogs.
• Built in Forums.
• Configurable, precise control over what users can do.

.. And much more.

All this extra functionality comes with a cost: CMS software is more complex to learn and use. I have also found that CMS softwares tends to run slower than their nimble cousins – blogs.

Blurred lines between blogs and CMS’

These days, you are seeing many blogging tools being slowly transformed into what I would call ‘mini CMS’.

… This is blurring the lines between the two types of software.

Wordpress for example (a popular blog software,) has a plug-in capability where programmers can build modules that enhance Wordpress’ capabilities. Over time, a lot of really interesting plug-ins have been created and now Wordpress is no longer a simple blog.

Choosing between a blog or CMS

Choosing between a blog and a CMS can be a painful experience – as it was for me. But in the end, you have to approach it by figuring out what you really need to do on your website … and then look at your options in the blog and CMS world.

In my case, I narrowed it down to Drupal (a CMS) and a blog, Wordpress. After having installed and configured both (to get a feel,) I went with Wordpress because it was fast and it met my needs.

Thanks for reading,

Stefan Mischook

www.killersites.com

Killersites.com was started by David Siegal (of ‘Creating Killer Web Sites’ fame) back around 1996. This was effectively the first version of the site.

In 2002-2003, I officially took over and started version 2 of killersites.com. It has gone through a lot of changes over the last 4-5 years that has resulted in a lot of web design related content … too much content to manage with html, php and jsp pages running all over the place!

… It is time for a major shift.

Wordpress vs. Drupal and Killersites.com version 3:

I’ve been evaluating CMS and blog tools that would help me to build and organize the new killersites.com – I’ve narrowed it down to WordPress or Drupal.

… Actually, I’ve decided (99% sure …) to go with WordPress for a few reasons.

Why WordPress:

• Wordpress is simple to install, configure and modify.
• Wordpress is object oriented.
• Wordpress has a huge community.

Finally, one major point is that Wordpress meets our needs. We will have perhaps only 5-6 contributers and so there was no need for a more complex/robust system like Drupal.

About Drupal:

Drupal is powerful and has a lot going for it … but too much for us. That said, it has a few things going against it:

• It is NOT object oriented.
• It is very close to a major new release, moving from 5.2 to 6.
• It is MUCH more work to configure than Wordpress.

If I had envisioned a much bigger project, then maybe I would have gone with Drupal.

… In the end, you ought to pay attention to today and the near future, and not worry about what may happen two years from now.

Thanks,

Stefan Mischook

www.killersites.com
www.killerphp.com