Website v Blog
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I feel this is a really stupid question – so much so that I’m not even sure how to phrase it. But can someone tell me whether there is a technical difference between a website and a blog? I’ve set up a WordPress blog for my church/village and created a static front page. It doesn’t feel the same as a website – but is it? the standard church websites are generally awful, and I love WordPress.
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A blog is a type of web site.
You can make a WordPress.COM site work like a traditional web site but that defeats many of the special features of the WordPress software.
Personally – if you like the way your site looks and feels I would not worry about it – don’t tell your friends that the church site is a “blog” and they might not ever figure it out :).
There are some guides here if you really want to make your site work like a “traditional web site.”
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Thanks for such a quick and helpful response. I really appreciate it. Just one thing – I can’t figure out where the guides are that you refer to. Can you help please? Thanks – again!
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I am not having good luck finding that guide either – but here are a couple of places to start.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/using-wordpress-to-create-a-website/
That should help until one of the other regulars drop by with a couple of other links.
Good luck – on the bright side – WordPress software is easy to change the contents if you don’t like what you do.
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Yes – that’s true. I just felt I was missing some massive techy trick by not knowing what a website could do that a blog can’t. You’ve helped me a lot – now I’ll follow those links you’ve given me :)
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Even blogs are looking less “bloggy” nowadays. Look at http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com for instance. It’s a blog that doesn’t look like a blog. Or the new theme Delicious Magazine.
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The main difference between a blog and website is the communication style. A website has a noticeboard communication style. A blog is a website designed for encouraging and supporting interactive communication. Collectively blogs create the blogosphere, while websites are like standalone islands. Blogs feature dynamic content and position it front and center. The entries have date and time stamps, and blog entries are customarily displayed on the front page in reverse chronological order.
IMO static front pages are a traffic killer. I cannot and do not believe returning visitors to any site are happy to be faced with the same blah, blah, blah page they have to click through to find the fresh content every time they visit. However, the good news is that one does not have to choose to have a static front page when creating a custom menu. One can still have their posts appear on their front page.
What’s important is comprehending the differences between pages and posts > http://en.support.wordpress.com/post-vs-page/
There is only one dynamic page in a blog for posts and we cannot post to more than that one page. But we can create the appearance that we have posted to more than one page.
We organize our posts by assigning Categories to them. When we publish a post it automatically appears on the running page for posts and also on the Categories pages and Archives pages.
A custom menu allows you to display Categories in tabs along the horizontal navigation where normally only Pages tabs are displayed. If you wish you can also include Pages and custom links in your custom menu as well.
These are the how-to instructions:
1. How to create Pages > http://en.support.wordpress.com/pages/
2. You create a custom menu. http://en.support.wordpress.com/menus/
3. You add the Categories you want to display and arrange them in the order you want.
4. Then you add and drop and drag the sub-categories below the appropriate Categories, and when you have everything arranged in the menu that you want you save the menu.
5. Go to the “theme location” module at upper left on the menu page. Select your custom menu name from the pull-down labeled “primary location.” Click the save button in that module.
6. Refresh your browser so that it isn’t possibly pulling a cached page, and view see your new menu with Parent pages and dropdowns to sub-pages.
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Thanks for taking time to explain this – it’s really helpful. And it’s made me realise that for my purposes a blog is probably more appropriate. I just need to explore the capabilities of WordPress in more depth and get a better understanding of what it can do. As I also intend to involve many more people in the project I need to get their input, too. As auxclass said earlier, maybe people who read it don’t need to know they’re reading a blog – for a lot of older people I think it sounds a bit scary. They probably feel more comfortable thinking of it as a website.
Thank you again for your help. I’m so impressed with this forum. -
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Thank you, raincoaster. I see what you mean about ‘onecoolsite’ – definitely looks like a website. Some interesting stuff on there, too. I’ve looked at your blog and realised I am far too set in my ways. I need to start thinking out of the box and being much more imaginative!
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@townmouse33
one cool site is my blog and I’m a blogging tips blogger. My front page is not static and the welcome mat is always on the doorstep. lol :) -
It’s TT’s blog. I’m using the same theme at htp://raincoastermedia.com though.One of the good things about these newer themes is that they are customizable.
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When you go to the part of the WP site that says ‘create a website with WordPress’ it doesn’t give any explanation at all about the difference between a blog and a website. I just suggested that a fuller explanation, on the lines suggested here by timethief, should be incorporated in the relevant Support section. Anyway, the moderator said I shouldn’t have posted in the ‘suggestions’ area, but here. So I am. And marking this question resolved (thanks to forum members)
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