So, bloggin question. Merely hypothetical at this point. If you had been using Wordpress forever but you violently hate the block editor and the kind of fussy/bloaty way WP feels now, what would you switch to?
@Annie ClassicPress is a fantastic alternative, but you need to find a host who won’t auto-update your installation. SiteGround was my host and they wouldn’t turn that off for me. But my new host, Porkbun, has a ClassicPress installer and is a great option.
@Annie Well, and I should add that I was in this position over the summer and I ultimately decided to learn how to install my own Hugo blog as a place to build a website, and use Micro.blog for my main blog. Hugo has a steep learning curve. I think ClassicPress might have been a more reasonable alternative, I just got enamored with Hugo's aesthetics (I blame micro.blog for making Hugo look so great, lol).
@Annie If you want a platform with a good editor on the web to write in, none of the static site generators will work. Including Hugo. Even Micro.blog for that matter isn't great for me from that perspective. Ghost has a good editor and less bloaty, if you can ignore the aggressive "monitize your audience" campaign.
All said though, Micro.blog works best for me.
@hollie Hmmm. I've been using a ClassicPress plugin that lets me keep using the classic editor experience in WP so this is an option. I think I can turn off auto updates with my host but would have to double check that.
@hollie Hugo is super intriguing and I've gone down a few rabbit holes but I need to save that learning curve for... well, not now. Too much other stuff spinning in the air at the moment. (but I really really really wanna dive in and I also blame m.B)
@amit That's good input, thanks. This is for my personal blog and for me that's about a good writing experience on the web - Ghost does look pretty good at this point. I've thought about making mB my main blog but I like having the distinction. As soon as I combine "big blog" with "micro blog" I start hesitating to publish smaller/random bits. Not sure I can untrain that mental habit.
@Annie depends on your goals a bit, but I find micro.blog delightful. After blogging for 20+ years I’ve come to really appreciate simple. And it gets out of the way and let’s me just create.
@jthingelstad I love m.B for shorter posts/thoughts -- seamless, simple, lovely. But I agree with @amit it doesn't feel good for me for longer posts. I like having mB for short + sweet and a separate space for the longer sprawling things. Might give Ghost a try.
@amit @Annie It's true that a statc site generator won't give you a web editor, but a huge plus for me has been the ability to use markdown. I really love that changeover from using WordPress. It means that my files are accessable and I can open them in a variety of ways, and the fact that I write them at home and then upload them means that even if some server borks my work, I can always upload a fresh copy. WordPress files are just a total mess, and can't bulk edit them easily at all. Markdown files are just so easy and fun to edit and upload.
@Annie Ironically, I too was using Micro.blog for shorter posts but then I found myself spending too much time thinking what’s a short and what’s a long post. Now I just publish everything on Micro.blog.
That said, I do cross-post a select long post on Blot. I too left WordPress due to the block editor. It’s good to make websites but not blogs.
@Annie I’m another vote for Ghost. Its focus on users monetizing their content can annoy, but it’s a great blog and email newsletter product built by good people.
@pratik oh that’s interesting and yep, I could see the overthinking go that direction. My writing process tends to be that things start as shorter posts and then I expand some into the longer essays/articles that end up as a public newsletter or on my “full-sized blog.”
@frostedechoes your site is such a nice reading experience. Love your thoughts on blogging — I feel very much the same.
@Annie Oh, absolutely. And it is exactly for this reason I have a Ghost instance for my long-form thinking.
@Annie I switched from WordPress to Substack for both my professional and personal blogs two years ago and it’s the best publishing decision I’ve ever made. The Substack editor is hands down one of the most frictionless I’ve seen, a fact which I think is underrated in blogging communities. Now I just focus on my thoughts while the infrastructure is taken care of. Readers can follow via email or RSS, both of which are portable so that’s checked too.
Some more thoughts here: thoughts.jatan.space/p/substack-is-not-bad-for-blogging
@Annie I think it was @manton that recently linked to this article getblogging.org that gives a brief summary of some blog hosting options. I see that write.as is allowing free signups at the moment write.as/start/tes...
@Annie I'm running my blog using Jekyll as it's all I need for short, infrequent posts. If I needed a host for longer posts though, I too would also give Ghost some consideration.
@amit "I need to separate the spontaneous posts from my long form ones. The former allows me to stay real, genuine. The latter challenges my creative self. My mind needs both the outlets." <<<that's it, right there!
@uncertainquark I do really love the Substack writing/publishing experience (I have my newsletter there too). Agree w/ you on it being an underrated blogging community -- I've found so many delightful people writing interesting things, and for the most part the discussions that go along are intelligent + respectful.
@lewism Oh I kind of forgot about blog! I love the concept of just popping markdown files in a folder.
@Annie ex-WordPress blogger here. I'm using Squarespace for my longform blog and newsletter at annahavron.com, and I like it because I don't want to spend time being my own tech support. I want to spend time writing. I don't have time for both. (Edited to add: this is hard, because I actually do love tinkering with websites... but it took so much of my writing time, I had to give it up...)
@uncertainquark Good stuff, man. Is there a way to disable Substack's pop-up to subscribe with that option for "let me read it first"? I've thought about moving my professional site somewhere else but I don't want it to feel intrusive if someone is just looking me up.
@lukemperez Unfortunately, no. They have introduced a ton of features-switches except this one for some reason. My workaround is to point people to the /archive or /about URLs instead so they can browse and read without having to see that screen.
@uncertainquark hmm… I'll have to wait until they change that before I consider it more deeply. But I read your post about how it's great for blogging, especially for those who aren't tech savvy. It's all so true. Many folks in academe I know have Weebly sites because they can't stand Wordpress, but can't figure out static sites. Mine is a static Hugo site and even I get tired of maintaining enough that I've been pondering for months where I might switch to if I could find the right platform.
@uncertainquark Great post, and you are right on about the difficulties of blogging for non-tech people.
@annahavron @lukemperez Thanks, and I hear you guys. I really wish the blogging community at large could see this problem as clearly.
@alexink I have been using the classic editor plugin and that’s saved me so far! But overall wp is so much more than what I need and I don’t love the writing environment even w the plug-in…
@annahavron oh that is a reall good reminder too. I love tinkering but have to stop myself too. Although it’s not the worst form of procrastination!
@gregmoore i do love the setup of writing environment separate from publishing environment (plus not paying for features i won’t use)
@Annie It’s so easy and doesn’t trap your posts into any kind of proprietary CMS. If Micro.blog wasn’t such a better experience I’d be bloggin’ on Blot. (Which is an alliterative phrase they should really use in their marketing.)
@gregmoore I just spent too long poking around the Blot site, and thought they make it clear there’s a cost, I cannot find a page that tells you how much it is!
@uncertainquark @lukemperez @annahavron just dropping in here to mention that write.as currently has its free option open for new sign ups if you're looking around at other platforms. As a non-tech person I've taken the opportunity to sign up so I can see what it's like. write.as/start/tes...