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I'm currently working on an alternative to Medium. So far it has all the elementary things like a working editor, notes and highlights, a decent commenting syst
by gurlic 7y ago
I'm currently working on an alternative to Medium. So far it has all the elementary things like a working editor, notes and highlights, a decent commenting system. There are publications too, with teams, submissions etc. User profiles and publications have custom domains, custom CSS for branding. There's also a somewhat half-working Github integration for advanced writers but I'll need to work on it a fair bit to polish the edges. At some point, I'd ideally want to open-source the editor/bloggy bit and have people self-host it and perhaps push their content back to the platform for centralized distribution if they want.
It's still a work in progress and I'm trying to figure out some sort of strategy, especially a content policy around not allowing clickbait and spammy "how to use learn redis in 3 minutes" type articles. I'd probably have to cap the max number of users and publication to a few thousand since I don't have the resources for this to be anything more than a hobby project.
I'm aware of a couple of others working in the same space. Write.as comes to mind, thought I don't think they're doing publications etc.
- sdan 7y agoAs a person who blogs on certain areas in ML, the sole thing I look for in any platform is SEO. I tried going on Medium, but because of the lack of LaTex support, I had to go on my own blog, but I'd really like if there's an alternate to Medium with amazing SEO (as you explained).
- gurlic 7y agoThat's definitely one of Medium's strengths and something I'd like to focus on when I find the time. I still have much reading to do about SEO in general. LaTex, syntax/code was high on my priority-list while initially building my product since I wanted to primarily target technical writers.
- initself 7y agoThe author's point certainly has to do with no more RSS networking.
- empath75 7y agoWriting a blog engine is trivial. Monetizing it is hard.
- gurlic 7y agoYup, that's probably why it will mostly be a hobby project supporting a limited number of great writers/publications so that I don't have to think about funding/growth and all the things that are associated with that!
- mceachen 7y agoFrom one developer in a crowded marketplace (mine is photo management software) to another (you're describing a CMS), I'd spend some quality time researching open and closed source alternatives, and have a ready answer for how your product's features differentiate you from the crowd. Make sure you also check out WordPress, Ghost, GatsbyJS, Hugo (and then expand the search by those terms + " alternative"). Good luck!
- gurlic 7y agoThank you for the advice, friend!