Most user friendly platform for blog

[Sunnypad]

Hi all
Any thought on the best, free platform for a simple blog? Needs to be one that will allow the "buy me a coffee" thing.

I previously used blogspot and found that easy. But that was years ago and there's probably better ones now.

Thanks.

[CliffEdge]

What's the buy me a coffee thing?

[Sunnypad]

What's the buy me a coffee thing?

Ta da

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/

It made me wince a bit when I first saw it but it's taken off.

I used to write a blog that was quite popular but in those days I got things like free drinks, invites to gallery openings...actually a few gift hampers too.

If I start the blog again, I'd rather just have cash, oops, coffee.

[Midsmartin]

I've never written a blog, but WordPress was made for blogs. You can sign up for a sort of ready made one at Https://wordpress.com, or install your own on your own domain which gives more flexibility for a bit more work.

When you are set up, you can just click to install the "buy me a coffee"plugin.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/buymeacoffee/

I briefly had a look at wix.com once. It's free to start, and seemed very good, and flexible, but you soon find that the components you want are chargeable and suddenly it can look expensive. Might be worth a look though.

[Sunnypad]

I've never written a blog, but WordPress was made for blogs. You can sign up for a sort of ready made one at Https://wordpress.com, or install your own on your own domain which gives more flexibility for a bit more work.

When you are set up, you can just click to install the "buy me a coffee"plugin.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/buymeacoffee/

I briefly had a look at wix.com once. It's free to start, and seemed very good, and flexible, but you soon find that the components you want are chargeable and suddenly it can look expensive. Might be worth a look though.

Thanks
When I tried Wordpress years ago it was awful but, as with everything, it's probably changed.

Thanks for the note on wix, good to know.

[CliffEdge]

What's the buy me a coffee thing?

Ta da

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/

It made me wince a bit when I first saw it but it's taken off.

I used to write a blog that was quite popular but in those days I got things like free drinks, invites to gallery openings...actually a few gift hampers too.

If I start the blog again, I'd rather just have cash, oops, coffee.

So does it need to be able to accept payments? If so that might make a difference

[stewamax]

So does it need to be able to accept payments? If so that might make a difference

Wordpress will support the basic version of free WooCommerce that will accept payments. PayPal is the easiest payee to set up, and a PayPal business account is also free: you pay transaction charges, but every merchant account that accepts online payments charges in some way.

[GeoffF100]

You can set up PayPal payments in Blogger if you want - or anything that will support a web page. PayPal creates the HTML and you paste it in.

[Sunnypad]

Thanks everyone
Yes, it needs to accept payments in a way....I don't know for sure. i guess if it allows the "buy me a coffee" thing then that software handles it, which can be through Paypal.

I had a play on Wordpress this morning and still thought it user unfriendly.

I will try Blogger again, I used that last time and despite the rumours, it seems that Google aren't planning to close it.

Will look up WooCommerce. Good name that!

[kyu66]

I had a play on Wordpress this morning and still thought it user unfriendly.!

Just out of curiosity, what made it user unfriendly for your needs?

I often recommend WP as a website/blogging platform to non-IT literate friends, where once set up, it is a simple task to compose a post and publish.

I admit the emboldened bit above may be a stumbling block for many.

[UncleEbenezer]

I often recommend WP as a website/blogging platform to non-IT literate friends, where once set up, it is a simple task to compose a post and publish.

To be fair, the wordpress editor can have a tendency to play sillybuggers. I still use it, and certainly wouldn't switch to blogger, whose history includes some significantly worse issues.

[Sunnypad]

I had a play on Wordpress this morning and still thought it user unfriendly.!

Just out of curiosity, what made it user unfriendly for your needs?

I often recommend WP as a website/blogging platform to non-IT literate friends, where once set up, it is a simple task to compose a post and publish.

I admit the emboldened bit above may be a stumbling block for many.

It seemed to have a very fiddly initial set up. I was finding it quicker to google "how do I do this on Wordpress".

None of the templates really suited except the paid ones.

I will have a look at Blogger next weekend but when I dealt with Blogspot, as it was back then, it was really easy, while WordPress just looked a pain. Nothing jumps out as logical or easy to find.