Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Blogging, Questions that have arisen

I hesitated for some time before I started a blog as I wasn't sure whether I would continue with it in the long term. In the end I started it, have enjoyed it and want to continue. But I am beginning to find a problem with being with Blogger.

Amongst the things I post are recipes, lots of them. The trouble is that as time progresses they are beginning to become lost amongst the other posts. So I searched Blogger Help and Blogger Knowledge to see if it is possible to add Categories to my posts so that it is easy to find specific types of subject what I wrote (a slight nod to Ernie Wise there), like recipes or posts about cats. However, I can't find any trace of Categories at all in Blogger. A search amongst the many blogs that are in my Favourites and that I look at regularly shows that none of the ones who use Blogger display Categories. So my assumption is that Blogger does not provide this facility.

So, where do I go from here? There seems to be few options:-
  1. Continue as I am - not really possible because as time progresses the current problem will just increase until it is impossible realistically to find things in the archives.
  2. Set up a separate Blog for recipes - not really what I want to do. Cooking is such an integral part of my life that separating it out would be both artificial and, I fear, to the deficit of both that new blog and my original one. It would also be cumbersome for me to manage, I suspect (although CopCar is managing her new one fine).
  3. Find a new Blog host - Hhmmmm... this might be an option, if I can find another blog host that is easy to use and doesn't cost me anything. Which are the good ones?

Well, these are the options. Has anyone any advice for me on this?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds to me as though you are ready for your own cooking blog. It might not be as hard to separate out as you're thinking. (You could always abandon it and post the recipes on Moment after Moment if you didn't enjoy the separate blog.)

I suspect that you perceive me as having no problem separating out a cooking blog is because I don't give a fig for cooking. Had I your passion for the subject...were cooking integral to my life...I might have the same issue that you have.

I had considered having my friends contribute recipes to my chow blog (and that can still be done). If you wished to separate out your own recipes, it could be done by categories, as you've discussed. I hesitated because, it might be inconvenient for you friends, and you are at my mercy (if I discontinue blogging--where does that leave you?)
Cop Car

Anonymous said...

If you want to continu with Blogger, the only way I can think of is to create a new blog. I wouldn't think that it is a big deal as you can link to it on your sidebar so it is just a click away - pretty much like a "category".

The biggest hassle would be to you as you would need to change out between blogs depending upon what you wanted to post.

Unfortunately, free blog providers are not really motivated to create fancy stuff like "categories", so a paying site is probably the only place you will find a feature like that (I could be wrong, and would be delighted to be proved mistaken).

Anonymous said...

Val--Did you see that you inspired Bogie to add a cooking category for her postings. You started an avalanche.
Cop Car

Adele said...

CopCar and Bogie,

Thank you so much for your comments and your advice. I've taken some time to ponder the situation and have set up a separate blog, under Blogger, in which I have copied the recipes that are here.

Val