ldstephens

ldstephens has been hosted on WordPress.com since I started blogging in 2016. Over the years, WordPress has become less of a blogging platform and more of a general web development platform. The change that forced me to start searching for a new home for ldstephens was when the Block Editor was forced on its users.

The first time I heard about Write.as was in a Mac Power Users Forum thread. Being curious, I signed up for the 14-day trial and started checking it out. By the way, thank you, Matt, for extending my trial to 30 days. I don’t need the full 30 days, and I’m signing up for 5-year plan today.

Anyway, my research led me to this blog post by Marius Masalar from April 2021 Every Blogging Option Sucks. Except the one that makes sense for you.

Every so often, I’m gripped by a compulsion to investigate my blogging approach and reassure myself that the path I’ve chosen remains the best fit for my needs.

I haven’t done this in a couple of years, but now I find myself once again revisiting the messy quagmire of blog-capable platforms and services to see which ones stand a chance of dethroning Blot. What I’ve come away with is a general sense of wonder and frustration at how such a seemingly simple problem continues to lack effective solutions.

Marius’s review included the following: * Ghost * WordPress * Medium * Micro.Blog * Write.as * Grab-Bag of Rejects: Substack, Subtle, Squarespace, Webflow, Tilda * The wildcard: Hey World

Here’s what he had to say about Write.as:

Here’s one I bet you haven’t heard of.

Way back in 2015, Write.as launched as a private online writing surface. Since then, it’s blossomed into a small suite of four interconnected apps that tackle blogging, co-editing (think Google Docs), image hosting and sharing, plus a system for getting writing submissions. All guided by some refreshingly user-first principles.

Similar to Ghost and WordPress, they also provide a self-hosted option, although the paid plans are so reasonably priced that I didn’t even bother looking into hosting my own instance.

This sleeper hit not only supports email newsletters alongside RSS, it also supports basic theming, custom domains, and is under active and enthusiastic development, with a vibrant community.

I apparently created an account in 2016 and rediscovered it as part of my research for this post. At the moment, I’m still digging into how well it would work for my needs, but first impressions are very positive.

It doesn’t support publishing from within Ulysses/iA Writer, and I’m unclear on how well the image handling matches my expectations, but it ticks many of my boxes and does so at a fair price.

[…]

None of the other choices (with the possible exception of Write.as) feel as authentic, as focused, and as committed to serving writers like me. That really matters.

Write.as is the one that makes sense for me!

#Blogging