I’ve decided to start building my dream layout. After years of planning and dreaming I’m just going to do it, one module at a time.
I’d like to document my ideas and progress as I go. For those of you who have done this, do you reccomend a blog, a dedicated website (with a blog too) or what? Who do you use to host your site? I know certain railroad related websites offer blogs for readers, but I want control to share lots of historical and model data in an easy to read format. So, what’s the best option, in your opinion?
My layout will represent the Florida East Coast K Branch (Lake Harbor Branch) circa 1996, in n scale. I spent a lot of time back them wandering around the K Branch and can’t wait to replicate all of the interesting operations I witessed every day.
Gidday John, as a “Technological Luddite” I can’t offer any advice on blogs, twitters or facebook thingees but would suggest that here is as good as place as any to document your build.
I would suggest that you have a definitive title, ie “FEC Harbor Branch Build” so it doesn’t get lost in the generic “My Layout Build” threads.
I note that some others who document their builds here on the forum also have blogs and or Youtube channels which I suppose is easy to do with cut and paste, and possibly will allow you to reach a wider audience if that’s what you wish.
The possible disadvantages is that here you are subject to any forum members 2 cents worth, though to be fair; most of it (I hope) would be of a constructive nature; or at the other extreme there have been build threads where there have been virtually no comments which have discouraged the poster, though I have pointed out, keep an eye on the viewer count.
Looking forward to your documented build, [;)] Have FUN,
I went simple with Blogger, it’s a freebee and really works very good. You can check mine out by clicking the link below.
I don’t use the Blogger picture upload because the resolution is pretty low, I use Photo Bucket for uploading pictures and videos. Their HTML editor works very good with no knowledge of HTML needed.
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
I agree with JaBear that a more definitive title would benefit your thread.
If your main question is blog vs. web site, then your title should reflect that; something like, Choosing Between a Blog and a Web Site.
I am considering a new layout as well, and I have considered a blog or web site. I would be interested in issues such as the best provider, the cost, maintenance, reader feedback, etc.
Mel, with the possibility of my own blog in mind, I have previously checked out your blog, and I like it. Nicely done. When you say that it is a freebie, is there no cost whatsoever associated with your blog?
Absolutely FREE with Google Blogger Rich. Photo Bucket is also a freebee. I also use Google Drive mainly for easy public download access, it’s a freebee too.
Thanks for the good words! A blog is time consuming but very satisfying. The hardest part of startup for me was the selection of a template. There are hundreds to pick from. I wanted the largest available space for pictures, little pictures don’t do much for me. The template I went with lets me size my pictures from small to full screen width at 1024 by 768.
My daughter was a big help getting me going and she still helps me with my text. I’m a 50+ year electronic techie and we have problems expressing our selves so others can understand what we say. She had a blog long before I did my thing and knows all the tricks. She also keeps me out of legal trouble, she’s a 25 year Paralegal.
Having access to someone blog knowledgeable is a big help starting up but Google made Blogger for dummies so that is the real reason I went with Blogger.
There are two areas that I can get myself into trouble pretty easily. 1) I can be pretty bad about telling how it really is and some manufacturers may not like that. 2) I brag up products I like and that can be a problem too.
Blogger came out with a warning several years ago about the possibility of being in cahoots with manufacturers for advertising. My daughter advised me to put a disclaimer at the bottom of my blog which did.
DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION: I have not received any compensation for writing this content and I have no material connection to the brands, topics and/or products mentioned herein.
Keeping my model railroad blog up is very fulfilling as well as rewarding, have fun getting your blog up and going.
LIONS build websites for part of his assignment here at the monastery. It was a simple matter to explain to the abbot that I needed a deparate url for testing things without them being attached to our website.
There are many places where you can build a website for free, if you can tolerate their ads. LION uses a commercial site that we pay for, but… him also runs an in house server where at the website of the LION and all of the LION photos that you sea from time to time are hosted. Actually all Microsoft operating systems come with a built-in web server so that you could host your own web site right on your computer, but of course if you did not already know that, you certainly do not want to ditz around with it. It makes an open door for gremlins to get in. Of course LION thinks that gremlins are fun. You can chase them, and they make wonderful squeaking noises just before you eat them.
But for most peoples the LION would suggest and recommend a FaceBook page, they are easy to set up, easy to maintain, and you can get lots of replies. LION on the other hand seldom updates the website of him, so it gets rather stale.
It’s just part of the layout, but the major recent addition of the Cascade Branch is something I’ve documented here in the MR Forum, with the aid of my ImageShack pic hosting site.
ImageShack had a meltdown a couple of week’s back and they’re still sorting it out, thus the number of broken pic links up on the trhead right now. They’ll likely get straightened out eventually, but it points out that whatever you do, keep at least one archive copy of everything you put online.
The MR Forums do limit some things you might do, but most of those can be overcome through the images you host off-site. Someone else doing the admin work is OK by me – and the price is certainly right, free.
I am a frequent reader of layout progress websites, blogs, and forum threads. As a reader, I can tell you that I like the dedicated websites best - by a lot. The others all have problems that make them less interesting.
As mentioned above, the forum thread is dependent on some other site to hold pictures (at least here) and most importantly the ongoing pats on the back or miscellaneous posts from other forum members (relevant or not) are a distraction to someone trying to understand your story. These are always chronologically rather than logically organized. Since most builders don’t do all the benchwork, all the track, all the scenery… stuff gets mixed up and hard to follow.
The blog format is the next easiest to create but they are still almost always organized chronologically and suffer from the same issues as the forum. Some have the option to use some form of indexing which can make them better than forum threads, but most don’t seem to use them. You can at least keep visitor comments separate from your posts.
A well done website is always the best. You can logically organize the posts by categoy like prototype, design goals, track plans, scenery, benchwork… which makes it much more useful to the reader that wants to understand what you are doing.
Thanks, Mel. I thought that one issue might be possible copyright infringement by posting photos without the author’s permission. That is something else to be careful about.
CarL, would you take a look at my Blog and give me your honest opinion.
I’m very interested in what other model railroader like and dislike. I know I get carried away sometimes but I do try to get across my model railroading tastes and methods as best as I can.
If just one of my posts is helpful to someone it would make my day.
When I find a way to do thing a bit better or more cost effective I do a post on my findings. I don’t intend in any way to indicate that my way is better, it’s what I do and what I like and after all as many say on this forum “it’s my railroad and my rules”.
Rich you are correct about copyright, having delt with that during my working career I try very hard to comply. Very very few pictures that I post are not from my own camera. I watch very carefully for the copyright symbol.
Total control over content – no ads, no trolls no mess, no fuss
I don’t post regularly. Blogs look stale when they haven’t been updated frequently.
I own the material. Many blog sites own whatever you post
Design of the site. I like to control how the site looks in terms of layout., Many other sites force you into a template, many of which look too busy or too packed in to my eyes. I tweaked Dreamweaver templates for my site and while it isn’t cutting edge, I’m comfortable with its early 2000’s feel.
No bandwidth issues. I buy a package that allows unlimited bandwidth. I have no quota issues or other anomalies around data limits.
I recommend getting a domain name for your site (most web host packages come with free domain names). I use 1 and 1 and have been very happy with the service. Never down, never slow (I have no ties with this company).
I too prefer Blogger, but only because it’s the only thing I’ve tried. As stated, its free and has little learning curve. If you’re familiar with editing forum code to display what you want the HTML is pretty easy to pickup too.
So far my only gripes with Blogger are:
Your post table of contents can be displayed in chronological order, but your actual posts are still ‘latest first’. This also, to me, has an irritating effect of individual posts having their content in chronological order, but the overall postings are not.
Scaling of the page Template isn’t as definable as I would like. Its slidable scales that effect over all page and individual item widths, but they all push/pull eachother to some effect. Maybe this is changeable, but I quit messing with it once I settled on something that was presentable.
What I really like is it’s not a forum, therefore comments are or can be limited to your preference, much like a personal website. Therefore pics and descriptions aren’t interupted by multiple posts.
I too dont upload images direct to Blogger, instead right now I use Picassa because of its direct link with Google. However Photobucket would work just as easy.
I tend to stear clear of ‘blogs’ that are hosted on places like Facebook, Twitter, etc because of the amount of comments and the lack of organization to them (typically).
“Busy” backgrounds are another no-no for me. Blogger allows them (non scrolling images peeking around your scrolling material) and it’s quite madening trying to look a blog or website or what have you and see that!
Thanks for the input everyone. I have a non railroad related blog and a professional website, so I’m pretty confident in my ability to handle my hobby related digital dabbling. I think I’m going to go with a dedicated website and updates listed on this forum and others. I may pay for my own domain or use a free service with their attached tag… I’m not sure yet.
What forums do you reccomend to start threads on to get others interested in my project? Obviously here, but what else? I’m familiar with most of them but I’d appreciate input from those of you who have active threads and why you chose the forum(s) you did.
Thanks again. Lots of good ideas have been shared so far.
