View source for Developer-hosted platform

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A developer-hosted platform is a website service operated by the software developer. No software installation is required by the website author.

(The term generally refers to services for making your own blog or website. In a wider sense, most [[social media]] runs on developer-hosted platforms, but this page only discusses website hosting services.)

==Free hosted blogs==
It is quick and easy to sign up for a free blog on a developer-hosted platform. See the selected list of free blog platforms below.

The blog software is operated by the service provider. When you sign up for the service you get your own blog, running under the provider's software. Your new blog generally starts with a default format. Most of these platforms will let you customize your blog, but the possible degree of customization varies widely between providers. 

When the free blog service offers a high degree of customization, usually you must know how to use [[HTML]] and [[CSS]] in order to take advantage of the possibilities offered. Such customization can thus rapidly become quite complicated. If the software permits, you may also create a website with a structured hierarchy of pages, rather than being limited to the blog format.

==Paying hosted blogs==
(To be written)

==Selected list of developer hosted platforms==
===Selected free blog platforms===
*Blogger (customizable, but the software has no stand-alone version): http://blogger.com
*LiveJournal (one of the oldest existing platforms): http://www.livejournal.com
*Posterous (simplified blogging): http://posterous.com
*Skyrock (high penetration in France): http://skyrock.com
*Tumblr (simplified blogging): http://www.tumblr.com
*Wordpress (customizable, nearly the same software as the stand-alone version): http://wordpress.com

==External links==
*List of developer-hosted platforms in Wikipedia article about blog software: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog_software#Developer-hosted_platforms

==See also==
*[[Social media]]
*[[Microblogging]]

[[Category:Websites]]
[[Category:Web hosting]]
[[Category:Stub]]