Right-ho, here's my blog. I'm starting a blog because a few days ago, I was telling my wife about some idea I had, and she told me I should write a blog. I am still wondering if she thinks my ideas are worth sharing with others, or if she's just sick of my babbling, and there is only one way to find out: write up my ideas on a blog, and see if many people read it. If no-one reads it, then it'll mean she must be sick of my babbling.
So a first blog entry should be about which blog software to use. A quick search through the internet suggests that many blogs use Typepad and Over-blog. My problem with the first one is that it wants me to pay (no way), and my problem with the second one is that it's free. Basically, it reminds me of Web hosting 8 years ago: free service would usually get bad (slow, or ad-ridden), and I think $5 a month is extortionnate. So I'll want to host my own blog.
Now, what do I want from a blog?
The usual: easy to learn interface (easy for me -- that's probably not the same thing as easy for you), easy to install, easy to backup (data that's not backed up should be considered lost), being able to use a text editor of my choice is a must (I'll babble about user interfaces some day, but let me tell you this: an interface that forces a text editor on a user is not a good interface, full stop) and being able to post via e-mail would be nice.
Funnily enough, there doesn't seem to be that many blog packages around. The operating system I use is Debian, and it seems the only blog software available there is Nanoblog. So there, I'll use Nanoblog: it seems to have a nice interface, lets me use the editor of my choice, and hopefully I'll be able to easily extend it to support getting new posts through e-mail. -----