I occasionally get email asking how I set up two blogs for my site (detlog.org and blog.detlog.org).
There are now several multiblogging solutions out there, but I still keep good ol’ “two separate installs” here.
It’s not that I have anything against those alternative multiblog hacks -I just didn’t know any other way at the time I started! I’ve never even tried those hacks to find out how they are… (I want to hear how you like those multiblog hacks!)
Another reason why I keep them this way is that my web host, DreamHost, has a nice & easy 1-click WordPress installation feature. It’s so easy that I’m spoiled now…
One downside of having two installs is I have to install all plugins twice. Although most of plugins are pretty simple and all you need to do is upload files/activate them, it could be pain if you are really into using a large number of plugins for both your blogs.
As for encording, I use UTF-8 for both English/Japanese blogs. I started out using EUC-JP but recently switched to UTF (finally…). I recommend using the same encording if possible, because it helps you manage themes/plugins with much less work.