Pyra Labs' Blogger is one of the more popular blogs. Getting a blog up and running with Pyra's Blogger is especially easy, which is one of the reasons it's so popular. Sign on to its website, type in a user name and password, and select a template, and you're ready to record your thoughts for the world to read. Once you've begun, you can go back and add entries as often as you like -- just as you would in a journal or diary. The entries can be "locked," which means the public won't be able to see them. Your posts list in chronological order and appear as a separate webpage by default.

Got programming skills?

The allure of simplicity ends once you realize that reading a spare, text-only blog would be tedious for most people. You can enhance your site with sounds, pictures, videos, and links to other websites, but you'll need to be familiar with programming languages such as Cold Fusion, HTML, and JavaScript to successfully incorporate bells and whistles into your blog. Blogger.com offers a help section that explains how to tweak your blog. A recent tour of the help site, which is largely community based, didn't reveal much help for those seeking guidance.

You can have Blogger.com host your site or you can use your ISP's free Web space. If you use your ISP, you'll have to supply the server's FTP address, your user name, and your password when you register at the site.

You could be opening yourself to an invasion of privacy you didn't blog for, though. According to one poster, Blogger.com doesn't encrypt user names and passwords on their way to the FTP client, leaving you vulnerable to hackers.

Other popular blogging sites include Pitas.com, DiaryLand, and Manila.

Summary: Blogger.com offers a free and easy way to set up and maintain a Web log. Adding new text is easy, but to really get creative you'll need to know some HTML. It's a useful tool for getting started in the fine art of blogging.

Pros: Easy site set up; one-click editing and publishing.
Con: Site can be slow; adding graphics and links could intimidate newer users.

Company: Blogger.com
Price: Free
Available: Now
Category: Website