I’ve created a new Blot.im site for my photos: photos.joshsullivan.io. I’ve decided it would be better to separate them out to a separate blog than try to maintain them in a single blog.
@joshsullivan I have been meaning to check/create a Blot page or something, is it very complicated to setup? That’s kind of what I’m afraid of, that it won’t as easy.
@Gabz It's incredibly simple. You chose your Blot blog name, and then it's created. You can then add a custom domain through the GUI and select a template for the blog, I use the default but with custom CSS on my blog. I am using Portfolio for the photos blog, but they have other templates as well. You don't need to get into the CSS, but I like to tinker, and this allows me to tinker. Plus everyone I know who uses Blot has been incredibly helpful in answering my questions. @blot has always been helpful and available when I needed help, submitted a bug report, or feature suggestion. I would give it a shot and see if you like it, you can always keep your other blog and use them side by side until you are confident one or the other would be a better fit for you.
@joshsullivan I see! Two more questions before I sort of dive in. Can I manage and create everything not using a computer 💻 (say I can do everything from my iPad) and am assuming that integration with micro.blog is relatively easy ?
@Gabz yes you can, the clients are either Dropbox or Git. I’ve used Dropbox and that worked great. But now I use Git and like it better because I have more control over sync. On iOS I use Working Copy for updating and maintaining my main blog and now photos blog. I use Drafts for new posts both with Dropbox and Git. For Micro.blog integration all you need to do is add your Blot.im RSS feed to M.B in the accounts tab. I’m glad to answer any questions you have, so keep firing away as they come to you.
@joshsullivan @gabz Yes, thank you. I’m also very close to giving blot a try. Similarly, I’ve been worried about blogging on the go from my phone. As I do make a lot of link posts rather quickly via “Share to: MicroBlog” functionality and Sunlit for multi-photo posts. I’d hate to lose that ease of use.
@joshsullivan one last question (I promise 😅🙏🏼). How about publishing a post with images in it? Can you use a text editor like, let’s say Ulysess, add the images where you want and save that file in your blot folder? Or images need some special formatting when within a blog post?
@Gabz Images are done via Markdown like Micro.blog hosted blogs but with the added benefit of the ability to use HTML img src as well. For most of my images I use Markdown formating . For Home Screen screenshots I use HTML code to change the sizing displayed while giving a person the ability to open the image in a larger view when clicked upon. So you can still use Markdown in Ulysses to publish images in Blot and definitely a recommended writing platform. Markdown and HTML are interchangeable within the same document, which has been incredibly beneficial for me when adding oddly sized images and outlines.
@grayareas @gabz Dropbox is definitely the easier client for on the go, immediate posting from Drafts. But Git isn't far behind due to Working Copy, probably an extra 10 seconds because you need to commit and push the changes, whereas thanks to Drafts Dropbox API integration it's an immediate action. Something to keep in mind when you are chosing your sync client.
@joshsullivan gotcha! Thank you again for taking the time. The curious nerd in me really wants to play with it but hosted Mb it’s so damn simple and I feel I will add some complications to my workflow if I move to blot. I’m sure it’s just a learning curve and then I’ll be easy but...
@Gabz I ended up sticking with MB hosting. Having anything other than just enables my incessant tinkering with something that doesn’t really add value (in my case).
@ronguest That’s kinda what I was thinking about last night. I have little options with Mb, mainly because of my lack of knowledge, but when I get into something I have easy ways to tinker or options to then I go down a rabbit hole 🐰 🕳 ! Plus this was the whole reason I decided to move from Wordpress to Mb, the simplicity.
@Gabz I use both but for very different purposes. Micro.blog is easier generally because of how it's integrated into my mac, iphone, on the web, etc. Friction for quick posts and photos is VERY low. Blot however is unparalleled for longform writing and editing. I've also found tweaking the design to be much more responsive.
@joshsullivan so, the image has to be hosted somewhere, correct? You cant just be typing on Ulysses (for example) insert and image, upload that file and hope the image will just get uploaded?
@Gabz The image does have to be hosted somewhere, in Blot you can add images within your sync client. I have my images in my Blot folder in /_assets/images/. In my posts the markdown link in Ulysses would be  Does that make sense?
Out of curiosity with M.b can you add an image to Ulysses and it will be uploaded automatically when you add the post to M.b?
@joshsullivan if understand correctly, I’d have to create an Assests folder within my blot folder and link the images from that folder.
@Gabz Yes, so for example if you are using Dropbox, in your Blot folder, you can have a _assets folder (the underscore just means any files within that folder won't be published as individual posts so you don't need to use assets, you could use _images), in the assests folder you can add an image. Then in your blog post you can do one of two things:  or  both will display the image correctly on your blog and RSS feed.
@joshsullivan wet nice site for photos ... I will update the blot summary of sites I have
@Blot So each time you use one or more images on a post, you make a subdirectory? How do you handle pathnames/urls? I tried doing that using Hugo and it was too much work at the time, but I love the idea of bundling images/assets with each post.
@joshsullivan @Gabz Just a slight clarification... You could use Markdown or HTML for img tags on Micro.blog, but very few people do it that way. It's easier to attach the photos to a post and let Micro.blog handle everything. (I draft most of my longer posts in Ulysses and copy/paste into Micro.blog or MarsEdit.)
@Blot Yes, thanks for the explanation. I'll probably still put the Date: in frontmatter because I feel better with that being explicit. Otherwise, I'm going to try this approach for a while. As with most Blot, things it's almost too easy :)
