I had a Blot.im account that I was paying for but not using, so I’ve started a digital garden on software development. It’s mainly links and techniques that I’ve found helpful, but also a place to voice an opinion, and occasional rant, on the goings on in the industry.

@lmika Is your Random Thought app available for others?

@canion I wouldn't say it's in a decent state to release it at the moment. It was sort of hacked togeather for my own needs. That said, I was thinking of releasing it as open source if there was any other interest in it. Probably needs some minor work to make it useful for others, such as setting the path to the particular blot blog, etc.

@lmika The closest I've gotten to no-impact publishing to Blot is by using Drafts. But it still feels rickety.

@canion Yeah, not sure that would work for me as I'm using Git for my Blot.im blog, instead of DropBox. I guess in theory I could probably put something together using Nova or something with a shell script, but that felt a bit too heavy handed for what I was going for. Plus, it was a good excuse to try some Swift + AppKit development, something that I have virtually no experience in.

@lmika I used Blot with git for a year or so but have switched back to Dropbox. Git created too much friction. But I refuse to install the Dropbox client either so I still have to essentially FTP into it to upload.

@lmika I like the idea of Digital Gardens...

@canion Not sure if you’ve tried this already but I use a markdown editor app that connects directly with Dropbox. It allows me to directly edit my Blot pages in iOS. The app I use is Byword

@numericcitizen @lmika I would be interested for sure. Would need a step by step guide as a non-techie. lol. Love the post.

@Munish to get an idea of Blot and the way to set it up, pay attention to my blog running on it: numericcitizen.io

@numericcitizen Wow thank you. I will take a look.

@numericcitizen How are you finding Craft? I like their publishing features...however, i wish everything was a text file stored locally. I know they have a iCloud feature now, but that takes away the publish option.

@gregmoore Wow, I bought Byword years ago but had long since given up on it as I moved onto iA Writer and others. I’ve reinstalled it and yes, wow, it connects directly to Dropbox, unlike the other apps. That could be a good option. Thanks!

@canion Awesome 😃👍🏻 I'm glad it worked for you.

@Munish i LOVE Craft. It’s a great example of well crafted software, on all Apple platforms, including the Mac with their Catalyst version... which by the way really feels native macOS.

@canion hey, one quick question... are webmentions working with your Blot website? Tell me more....

@numericcitizen Agree, it is one of the better apps I am using. However, I also have a love hate relationship with Workflowy; however, the developers are not consistently updating the tool

@gregmoore I also remembered I own 1Writer as well, which can also do it. I have too many notes apps!

@numericcitizen Testing my memory because it was so long ago that I set this all up! I have micro.blog connected to the RSS feed of my Blot site so it posts new entries. Is that what you mean?

@Munish I chose to buy a subscription to Dynalist, rather than Workflowy. It has a lot more features, plus the Whitney font.

@canion I was instead refering to the actual response appearing at the bottom of each post... did you subscripte to Commento or Disqus? Or is it a webmention thing?

@canion LOL, past you just wanted to be sure you were prepared for any text-based eventuality. I never knew just how many text writing apps existed until I joined Micro.blog.

@numericcitizen Ah, yes. I have absolutely forgotten how I did that. However, I know who helped me. @amit was my Blot sherpa. He helped me set up my Blot webmentions.

@gregmoore some people collect baseball cards. I seem to collect text editors.

@canion No judgement here. People spend way more money on far worse things.

@canion thanks will check it out.

@canion @lmika here is a simple way to post to blot from the browser: wall.blot.im

@kordumb when did that arrive on the scene?

@canion @amit hoping he will read this thread!

@kordumb how can we set tags, etc. from there?

@numericcitizen I'm not sure, it's been awhile since I've used it.

@canion I believe @amit had a pretty big hand in putting that together with @blot maybe two or so years ago.

@numericcitizen Yeah, I had documented the steps when I enabled webmentions on my then blot blog. I hope you find it helpful. //@canion

@amit Thank you for sharing this one again. Saved.

@amit Thanks a lot! From a quick glance at this blog post, it seems to work with Dropbox only... My Blot website uses Git.

@numericcitizen I believe where the actual files reside, Git or Dropbox, shouldn't matter. Changes are primarily to the theme. That's assuming, of course, that nothing major has changed with how Blot works since I migrated out.

@kordumb Yeah, I guess it was only last year that I had started working on this side project. I didn't get a chance to work on it much though. It works, but with Dropbox only for now. @canion

@amit I guess the last year just felt like two...

@kordumb Sigh, such has been the year 🙄

@amit thanks for your answers.

@numericcitizen I’ve used Blot with git and Dropbox and webmentions worked fine with both. // @amit

@canion I’ll have to check that out. Just subscribed to Commento, not sure both can be used on at the same time..

@numericcitizen Yeah, it's not a bad idea. I can't remember where I read about them. I think it might have posts, or links to posts, from Micro.blog.

Update: I found this article being a good summary as to what constitute a Digital Garden.

@Munish @canion Thank you. I'm stoked that you've shown some interested in this little app. Truth is, I've been thinking about doing a proper side project for a while, something that I can release properly into the world. Maybe Random Thought would be a good contender 😁. I'll keep you posted, probably via Micro.blog.

@kordumb Oh, nice. Would have been pretty close to what I was thinking off.

@lmika Please do!