This article has been superseded by Version 4.0 which discusses my return to the WordPress publishing platform.
In two recent articles, I mused on Why I Write and, at present, for whom I write. Today I want to explore how I publish.
I am old enough to remember when the <blink> tag was used not as a retro pose, or to be ironic, and when sending a newsletter meant formatting your text in <html>. While there are some things about the wild west days of the net I do not miss (no CSS for one), there are others I lament. Such as being able to write without a dizzying array of formatting tools or those bloody ‘upgrade to premium’ notifications. Just me, my readers and the text.
I am also old enough to remember when a dial-up modem meant optimisation often stood between someone accessing your site or giving up, because the 5mb jpg you had mistakenly used was taking minutes to load. Near unlimited fast internet in many areas of the world means fewer today have care or concern about page load times or clean code. I however, do.
My quest for a publishing platform which was both elegant, unencumbered by endless plug-ins and which allowed me to be alone with my text, brought me to write.as. Not only because it ticked all of my minimalist boxes, but because it’s mission is firmly privacy respecting, has indie web functionality built in and allows for federation. I can even produce an ePub from my blog.
All in all a win for a privacy respecting and more nimble publishing platform.
Good night, and good luck.
William Caxton is licensed under Public Domain.
This post is day 012 of my #100DaysToOffload challenge. If you want to get involved, you can get more info from 100daystooffload.com.
