Geeklog Forums

All I want is a very nice looking blogger with a lot of customization in terms of the layout, I'd rather make my own than use someone else's skin or template.

I really would like something that is an html page (or editable in the backend like an html page) where I put in the blog portion like a and or whatever sorta thing.

I don't want to have to learn PHP just to customize how my blogger looks. The whole site is a blogger plus a FAQ, about, links, and downloads pages. I will also need banner management.

So is Geeklog the way to go? Is a simpler blog that isn't really a CMS the way to go? Or would I better off with another CMS? Is Geeklog ideal?

I'm not really looking to build a community- just my blog.

Please help- I don't want to go through the hassle of installing something only to find out it was way overkill or doesn't do what I need.

Thanks

Skinning Geeklog is not very easy. You could try K2News first at www.kreative-studios.com. Easy install, 100% skinning possible, lots of features.

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Dutch Geeklog sites about camping/hiking:
www.kampeerzaken.nl | www.campersite.nl | www.caravans.nl | www.caravans.net

You might try WordPress or any number of blog-only programs. GL is wonderful, but it may be more than you need.

While I've never used it, I've heard good things about Moveable Type. It seems good for a simple, skinnable, one-person blog.

Although if you think you will ever want to make your site more complicated (multiple authors, forum, filedownloads, etc), it might be better to install Geeklog.

Just take a look at Geeklog and its plugins and ask yourself if you would ever use that functionality in addition to a simple blog.

Theming Geeklog isn't that hard guys, come one. The only confusing concept is how one page may be made up of more than one template file (.thtml). The files themselves are easily edited with no need for understanding PHP and yes, there is actualy HTML in those files. Start by reading the theme how-to and then decide if it is hard yourself. People tend to forget you can dramatically effect Geeklog's look by only changing a few files:

style.css
header.thtml
footer.thtml
blockheader.thtml
blockfooter.thtml

Now, if you want a radically different theme then it would require some work but that is the case in almost any CMS/BLOG I've seen.

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The reason people blame things on previous generations is that there's only one other choice.

A few words on why you might look at WordPress instead of Movable Type --

MT is NOT free software, and it's supposed to be major resource hog, spawning a new perl interpreter every time a comment is added and then renders a new static page. The search is also supposed to be highly CPU intensive.

You could also try Textpattern wich looks verry promising, though it's still in an early beta (or whatever) state.

geKow