CivicSpace versus Blogger

Submitted by lambert on Sat, 2005-10-01 22:13.

Here is a chart that compares blogger with CivicSpace/Drupal (the platform on which this site has been built). Of course, one feature is so important it’s off the chart: With blogger, we don’t control our own content. So if Google decides to do for Bush what it’s done for the Chinese government, we have no Plan B.

A second feature is the full HTML of this very table.

Feature	Blogger	CivicSpace/ Drupal
Reader experience
Blog posts are organized chronologically with the latest pushing others down	X	X
Main page with heads and leads only minimizes pushdown	-	X
Man page with sticky posts minimizes pushdown of a critical post	-	X
Rich content is possible (richer than posts alone)	-	X
Comments can be formatted just as richly as posts	-	X
Posts can be listed in the sidebar	-	X
Who’s online can be listed in the sidebar	-	X
Comments can be listed in the sidebar	-	X
Comments can be threaded (comments on comments)	-	X
Posts, events, surveys, etc. can be categorized for easy linking and retrieval	-	X
Writer experience
Blog entry can be done using text and HTML and previewed before submission	X	X
Each contributor has their own blog linked to from main page	-	X
Categories mean past posts are easier to find	-	X
Live technical support exists in case of site problems or outages	-	X
Rich content is possible (richer than posts alone)	-	X
Content can be public, private, or degrees of each for reading and editing	-	X
Full HTML can be used (tables, etc)	-	X
Image galleries are available	-	X
Our own news feeds are available as a research tool	-	X
Community Building/Organization Tools
Events calendar can be used as tool for organizing or as story hook	-	X
Surveys can be designed as tool for organizing or a story hook	-	X
Bulk mailing can be done (though module is not yet installed)	-	X
Volunteers can be signed up (though module is not yet installed)	-	X
Rich content
A D.I.Y. collaborative book with a table of contents can be created from posts and other content	-	X
A glossary can be constructed and automatically formatted and linked to in posts	-	X
Affiliated blogs can be given their own pages	-	X
Amazon-like capsule book reviews can be created	-	X
Maintenance, administration, extension
The site is dynamic, so changes to posts and templates appear much more rapidly than blogger	-	X
Usage and event logs are available, along with statistics	Sorta	X
Contact form with directions for filling out	-	X
Modular architecture allows new features to be added	Sorta	X
Open source code allows us to add our own new features	-	X
Backed by a thriving open source community	-	X