It’s quite simple really. WordPress themes use raw PHP rather than the template tags used by other tools like Blogger and MT, and it simply isn’t safe to give unlimited and possibly inexperienced users the power to write and execute PHP on a free hosted service like this. So HTML customisation is out, unless some kind of templating engine replaces the raw PHP and I know the developers have never been keen on that idea.
Editing CSS does not have the same security issues involved, however discouraging people from personalising their blogs has the advantage of strengthening the wordpress brand because all WP.com blogs are instantly recognisable as such.
I guess in answer to your second problem, you could always try using the latest development version of WP on your self-hosted blog, very similar to wordpress.com but you have to be aware that it is not supported and could break at any time.
That was the first comment I got to my last post. I was unaware that the themeing system for the hosted wordpress was any different than the one in the self-hosted wordpress. I also understand that not allowing people to edit their templates streghtens the wordpress brand.
I thought you were liking Blogger? Now the switch, what is next for your blog as well as the podcast?
That was the second comment. I did kind of like blogger. The main reason I switched was that I had a very low trafficed blog, yet I got about 25 comment spams a day. You never saw them because I went through each one when they came in and deleted them. That was just because I was on the blogger system. Also, I just wanted to try out the new system. Last, I like Open Source. I also have used WordPress since version 1.0 and love it. As for what is next for the blog, nothing really. Just me posting here, I am going to ride out the fact that I can’t edit the template. As for the podcast, I am struggling to get them out. School is in full swing and time is extremly short. I am working my tail off to deal with school, life and my tech life. So, that is why I am looking for more content producers. I am sorry for this but I just need to find time, and it is getting harder and harder.
Thanks,
Joe
JT Ray said
Did you turn on word verification http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=1203 if not that may have been the reason for all the comment spam, Dvorak mentioned it a few TWiTs back and it has worked like a charm for me.
Andy said
Not so. It’s possible to execute javascript code via CSS stylesheets.