Blogger vs. WordPress? WordPress Won!

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Ok, guys. It’s finally happening. That blog redesign I told you about earlier this year and I kept saying was going to happen and it never happened and you were probably thinking that I was full of shit, well, it’s finally happening!

Next week Hipstercrite 2.0 will officially launch!

It won’t be all crazy different. The biggest differences are that I switched over to WordPress and that the layout is now magazine style. Design-wise the aesthetic is still minimal since I have limited resources and limited skills in making it all fluffy. Plus, I like modernism? My wonderful web designer is making the blog transition seamless, so you shouldn’t have to do anything. If you are following me through a reader, everything will stay the same and the URL is staying the same. Oh, and I finally got hip with the times and got me some tabs! Now my posts will be categorized by such phrases as “Music”, “Pop culture”, “Austin”, and “20-something” etc.

My goal all a long has been to have a blog where I can talk about different things without the blog seeming disjointed. I want to talk about Austin things, but if you’re not from Austin and could give a flying shit about Austin, you could read my 20-something musings or pop culture ramblings instead without having to sift through stuff. Or vice versa. This current one column setup on Blogger made me feel that this goal was unachievable.

While I was hemming and hawing over redesigning my blog, I wrote a blog post called Blogger vs. WordPress where I discuss the pros and cons to both blogging platforms. I was torn between staying with Blogger- something I was comfortable with and use to, but ultimately unhappy with because of the limited customizing options and my inability to find a web designer who enjoyed working with Blogger OR switch over to WordPress which is ultimately more customizable but would require money (not an ass load though), migration and hiring someone who actually knows what the hell they are doing. If you’re a blogger thinking of making a similar switch, I can tell you that if you’re slightly smarter than me, which you probably are (I didn’t do well on my SATs), you probably won’t have to hire someone to do the migration for you. I understood about 75% of what was required to make a smooth transition from Blogger to WordPress- getting myself self-hosted and installing the Woo Theme I purchased- but the other 25% of uncertainty made me horribly insecure that I would somehow blow my blog up. Specifically migrating my blog with all it’s content and followers over to WordPress. The nice thing about WordPress is that once you’re set up on there, it’s pretty easy to figure out.

If you’re thinking of making this change and don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself like me, before you go shopping for web designers online, talk to your web savvy friends and see if they can help you. For a lot less you will probably be able to find a friend who can help. I was getting initial quotes from web designers upward to $2,000 for absolutely no reason. Make sure you find someone who understands what you’re looking for and don’t be afraid to ask questions!

Blogger, our time together is coming to an end. I won’t have to look at your ’60s-era logo and features anymore. I will say that I am a wee bit sad and nostalgic right now. You were my introduction to the blogging world and you have been good to me. Maybe one day we’ll meet again, but for now….