Microsoft Spaces

For those of you who haven't heard of this new venture, and I hadn't myself until very recently, Microsoft have brought out a Beta version of their new blogging system, called Spaces, so I thought I would have a look at it, mostly because I liked some of the templates they are offering and the 3 column layout, although I would prefer it to be full screen. As it is, it doesn't really look very eye catching. However, it proved reasonably easy to set up and it is quite straighforward to move the modules around to suit your taste and even to rename them, delete some and add others. Glancing through some of the other sites, the overwhelming majority of blog owners seem to be in their teens. (Memories of Xanga, although these do seem to be British rather than American.) However, I did come across a lovely blog of art and writing called Paws for thought which I will definitely return to. There is a constantly updating list of other Spaces sites as one of the modules, so you can check out other people's offerings very easily. Photos are very easy to upload and are automatically presented as a slide show when you access the site which I liked very much. You can also have a music list which runs through Windows Media Player, but it has to be version 10. I haven't looked at this yet so I can't say how easy or otherwise it is to set up.
I have tried to link to my blog from this site but I can only get to the sign-in page, so I think there are a few gremlins to be sorted out yet. Overall impression is that it's all-right - not wonderful and not for someone who likes playing about with html and customising their template. It doesn't feel very homely, but of course, that's a very subjective viewpoint! Put it this way; I won't be rushing over there!

1 comment:

Michelle said...

Thanks for doing the ground work for us Jen. I might scoot over there and have a look. Am looking for a nobrainer site to put my thesis on.

Plaster board and dust

So, we're still no further forward on the British Gas smart meter front and I've given up making non-existent appointments with them...