# Home made blogging or go pro? **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [May 5, 2008, 11:02am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/home-made-blogging-or-go-pro/136668 "2008-05-05T11:02:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![david](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@david](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/david)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 11:02am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/home-made-blogging-or-go-pro/136668/1 "2008-05-05T11:02:48Z")
In trying to learn Ruby/RoR/AJAX, I’m trying to make a website for myself that will (eventually) be my centralized ‘online identity’. To that end, I want every facet of the website (which will probably include a blog, some photography highlights, and my academic writing, and possibly wiki functionality) to be unified in style. I’m not familiar with WordPress’s downloadable software, but I figure it would be fairly complicated to integrate that (visually) with the rest of my site. So I was wondering: if I was going to use a blogging engine, would it be better to find a good Ruby implementation (minus any presentation, just an engine) or to build one myself? Obviously we hear all the time about building RoR blogs in 15 mins, but I don’t want a bare-bones blog. What do you guys think? Go home made or go pro? ---
**Author:** ![david](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@david](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/david)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 3:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/home-made-blogging-or-go-pro/136668/2 "2008-05-05T15:22:04Z")
I’d say do the one you are more interested in learning more about. If wordpress+plugins then go that way, if RoR then go that way. Speed-wise prolly wordpress [?] -R ---
**Author:** ![david](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@david](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/david)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/home-made-blogging-or-go-pro/136668/3 "2008-05-05T16:56:39Z")
Often times the best way to learn something is to attack a motivating problem that is intimately related to it. If you _really_ want to learn Rails then I’d go with the homegrown approach simply because it gives you a great environment for learning. Moreover, you’ll later be able to point to your production code as a sample of your work, something that is being sought more and more when you try to land your dream job. ---
**Author:** ![david](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@david](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/david)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 2:22am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/home-made-blogging-or-go-pro/136668/4 "2008-05-18T02:22:00Z")
David, If you like to learn in the presence of a book to turn to when you get stuck, I would recommend that you check out Practical Rails Social Networking Sites ([http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Rails-Social-](http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Rails-Social-) Networking-Experts/dp/1590598415). It’s got a section on creating a blog, including RSS feeds and comments, and some other goodies that you might find inspiring. Best, Corey ---
**Author:** ![david](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@david](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/david)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2008, 7:14pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/home-made-blogging-or-go-pro/136668/5 "2008-05-17T19:14:46Z")
Andy and Roger, thanks for your help and advice. I think it makes sense and I do really want to be more of an RoR expert… also I think it’ll be more satisfying to use my own code, as long as I make it interopable with other bloggers via OpenId or something. Thanks again and sorry for the late reply. David ---
**Author:** ![david](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@david](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/david)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 8:17pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/home-made-blogging-or-go-pro/136668/6 "2008-05-18T20:17:23Z")
Ah thanks so much! I hadn’t heard of this, and it looks to be a good read. David