I've always thought that the format of Dr. Harris's website really helped his cause -- not that his content isn't superb, of course, but the format of the site made his work even better.

One of the things that is cool about it certainly is that it's kind of like a blog/website hybrid: some fixed pages like a website, but also updated stuff like a blog. I think that huntgatherlove falls under this description as well. But KGH's has a more "businesslike" look that makes it feel more like a document fixed in place -- pushing it away from the blog side of the spectrum. This is no offense to Melissa, of course; I read pretty much everything she writes. There's no inherent preference for giving the impression of "fixity" (is that really a word?). But you might want to go for something like that if you are trying to create a sober tone for your site.

Just a few reflections. I'll step aside now and let the programmers help you.

We like Headway Theme for Wordpress - clean, lots of functionality and WYSIWIG. A good forum for thinks bloggy is http://forums.digitalpoint.com.

If you run into stuff you'd rather hire out for, elance.com is a good resource for hiring. If it's something really simple, try fiverr.com.

Good luck!

I am a big fan of easy, so blogger with a custom URL (easy to buy and apply though google) with site pages backing it up (and even moderator to give you a way for people to vote in questions) is a really nice platform, or at least it is what I have found easy to use.

I've been using Blogger for livecaveman.com

You can really make it as simple or "busy" as you want. You can enable or disable ads, go into the advance options and format things to make them "cleaner", import custom backgrounds or use a pre-made template, etc. All in all it is quite versatile and I am enjoying it.

I started with wordpress.com, which is fairly easy to use. I am working on setting up a blog with my own URL and the wordpress.org download. I am a web designer so it is fairly easy for me. But if you are not technically inclined, you probably need to find someone to set it up for you.

With any platform you use, you can make your blog clean or clutter it up with lots of widgets.

I was using blogger for a long time for my business but just now started my first personal blogg at wordpress. I think wordpress is much easier to use and has more options than blogger does. I also like the formats and layouts they have to offer and it is easy to tweek them how ever you like. I think wordpress has a more sophisticated feel so for now on I will stick with them.

Now if only I could get the hang of blogging for fun. ;)

Using the Thesis theme over at mendax.org. It's very customizable: you can have one to three columns for layout, and adjust a lot of options from within the theme controls without learning any CSS.

Any blogging platform has any number of themes that can be used, many of which are minimalist. What you need to think about, if this is your first blog, is platform. I prefer Wordpress - it's easily the best open source content management software available, and if you blog through wordpress.com it is free, although customization can be limited and if I'm not mistaken you cannot run ads on a wordpress.com hosted blog. If you can afford it (and don't mind the bother) you should purchase a domain name and self host; i.e. find a webhost and pay them to host the blog. You won't need anything particularly robust in the beginning, so you should be able to find pretty cheap hosting.

Good luck. I'm just setting up a blog now (In Italian). Has been about 10 days so far of html code, shuffling columns and boxes around, pay pal account for contrib, facebook page etc.

I've read good things about wordpress, but for some reason I just picked blogspot.com. Not extremely easy if you want a very customized look. Not sure how the others pan out, but in the end, I have a feeling they are all the same- meaning: if you want freedom and control you have to search the web for the html code for certain customizations and fixits for odd problems. Eblogger does have an excellent help section where I eventually (lots of searching) found all the answers to my problems. Well except for 2 maybe, which I can ignore for now. Even if you do go around and take a look at other blogs, this does not mean those blogs have much to do with the templates the host is offering you. They may have been worked and worked and tweaked until someone pulled their hair out of their head. (I have less hair now).

To think about? How many people will actually keep reading your blog daily and how many will just stumble through? How many will click through to find something their interested in? I've decided to set my neo-blog up (without dated posts) with the 6 most recent titles and titillating summaries on the main page that the visitor can click on to read the entire content as opposed to seeing one full post about something he may not even care about. I also find labels to be much more efficient than archives. If you want information you could probably care less if is was posted in March or May. Your visitors need to find it and quick (labels more prominent that archives) otherwise they may just google to somebody elses blog. You may be successful at some point (hope so) and have faithful readers who don't want to miss a thing..then dates are handy.