I’m getting ready to start a new site with a blog and I’m thinking about platforms. I know Dave really likes pulse and I try to be like Dave! I’ve not used it. I’ve used blogger and it was okay, but I’d love to hear about people’s experiences and what they use and why. Also, what is it like for your client using the blogging platform. My current client is comfortable with email and surfing, but that’s about it. Ease of use is paramount.
I’d vote for pulse. Implementing it into your Freeway created page is as simple as copy & pasting a line or two of code. Also, the default install is extremely clean and simple.
You can however style it how you’d like by diving into the blogs CSS file.
On the back-end, with the new revamped look for pulse, I find that clients are impressed and often surprised at how simple it is. The dashboard interface is good.
Also, the support from Pulse is excellent. I can easily expect a reply to my emails within 24hrs and usually solves my problem every time! (Mark I believe is on Freeway Talk too.)
The only downside for Pulse is if you require tags and archive etc. on the blog. Pulse makes no claims to being all singing and dancing but what it does it does so brilliantly and is very easy to install as Seb pointed out.
There’s also a license fee to pay for with Pulse but not excessive.
Actually, just thought of another possible downside of Pulse; it now uses Redactor as its text editor, previously it came with ckeditor. Lots of people love Redactor, developers think it great but I have my doubts with regards its limitations. Positioning images and guessing their size if trying to match-up leaves a lot to be desired. I don’t know what blogger uses but its worth checking out and using your own judgement as to what you think best - and for your client.
I know Dave really likes pulse and I try to be like Dave!
As with everything - horses for courses.
It is very flattering that you want to be like me but it is important that your solution meets your clients needs and I am no different when it comes to pointing this out to them.
Besides I am not the best roll model here.
I find Pulse easy, my clients find Pulse easy but your mileage may vary and it is relatively cheap at $25/site.
Why not build your own blog in Freeway. Speaking for myself I don’t know why I should use any third party solution. Take a look at my blogpages at http://www.appadvies.nl Sorry in Dutch!
Perch http://grabaperch.com has a minimalist but nice and useful blog add-on. It’s very easy for the client to use but it’s not a point-n-click solution if that’s what you want. That said it’s not overly complicated to install either.
Hi guys. Thanks for the lively discussion! I’m glad to hear there are several people singing the praises of Pulse.
My client doesn’t even know what a blog is, so anything will be a pretty significant learning curve for her. Does Pulse allow you to host on your own domain? In other words, can I have www.mysite.com/blog or blog.mysite.com?
I know this is supposed to be possible with Blogger, but I never was able to figure it out.
Pulse is hands down the best solution for out-of-the-box CMS when it simply comes to manage the content of simple websites. Yes, there is an option to blog as well … that’s a big plus too. But that’s not the main reason for me to use Pulse whenever I can. It’s the ease of use, the simplicity almost, and how easy you can alter it to specific needs. And I certainly like how I can manage my sites by iPhone, a responsive Admin section, it’s almost too good to be true.