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Create a website using Dropbox and a text editor
- mambodog 16y agoFor a static site that one can drag-and-drop to, I'd just use S3's new 'website' bucket configuration with CyberDuck as the S3 client (folder sync or drag-and-drop files).
- JonnieCache 16y agoThis would be ideal if only cyberduck didn't eat so much RAM. I prefer Interarchy. http://nolobe.com/interarchy/ http://nolobe.com/interarchy/
- hopeless 16y agoI'm currently building a site generator for photoblogs hosting directly on S3. Seems like good performance, cheap hosting and no more worries about Wordpress
- VB6_Foreverr 16y agoSorry for going off tangent but why would you worry about wordpress?
- hopeless 16y agoIt's always being hacked/targeted, requires constant updating, needs plugins for some functionality, and these may throw a hissy fit when you perform one of the many essential updates. Basically it's a general tool and a victim of its own success. I'm going to built something that fits my exact needs and produces a static site hosted on S3.
- ique 16y agoThe only real info on the webpage as to how the pages are generated is "Pages are driven by Markdown rendered into HTML templates." Looking at the demo template all the content is in txt files and there's html templates with {{tags}} in them like that. It would be interesting to know what's behind it all, it kind of looks like jekyll. But I'm not familiar enough to say so.
- bricestacey 16y agoDouble curly braces makes me think mustache: http://mustache.github.com/ http://mustache.github.com/
- urbanjunkie 16y agoThis quote from the article about dropbox..."Even though overpriced in many ways, it is simple and easy-to-use and save my asked [sic] a number of times." Seriously? $99 per year for 50GB is overpriced?
- elithrar 16y agoIt's free for up to 8GB (with referrals) — which is very good value in my books.
- user24 16y agoI'm up to 11GB free, it's possible. I've sent them over 150 referrals, most of whom've completed signup. Plus doing things like taking the tutorial, etc. The referral model by dropbox must be awesome for customer acquisition.
- limmeau 16y ago150 referrals, wow. Do you experience some kind of saturation by now, in that it becomes increasingly harder to find a potential new user who hasn't yet subscribed?
- user24 16y agoactually I don't put any work into getting referrals at all, so I don't know. I wrote a blog post about it and put the link on twitter a few times, and the referrals just keep pouring in - I'd love to know where they all come from to be honest! I've hit the limit as to my free space allowance now.
- limmeau 16y agoIf you compare the price with solutions without the syncing experience, you can e.g. get a 100GB package from Strato HiDrive for 5EUR a month. (edit:) or 500GB for 10EUR/month.
- 16y ago
- limmeau 16y agoThis service apparently runs a Markdown-to-HTML converter on your Dropbox subdirectory whenever you change a Markdown file. What about client-side rendering of Markdown? You'd have an HTML file which includes a separate Markdown-to-HTML converting JavaScript, and an invisible pre containing the markdown. That HTML file, consisting mostly of Markdown text, can then be edited in a simple text editor.
- mikepurvis 16y agoI've taken to doing basically this with PHP for static websites. A lot of websites I work on are really just a handful of static pages--- needing logins and a database and a "theme" and to fret about security patches just for that is like swatting a fly with a bazooka. Here's an example: http://8cities.org/newyork http://8cities.org/newyork It's a supporting site for a marriage seminar being put on by a local church---the content on that page is being sourced from http://8cities.org/content/newyork-left.txt http://8cities.org/content/newyork-left.txt and http://8cities.org/content/newyork-right.txt http://8cities.org/content/newyork-right.txt , so it's easy for the staff to make changes to the files without needing a ton of technical know-how, but there's less overhead than with a whole CMS. Another way to do it that I've found works well is to have a php file with a little <?php ?> block at the top where you set template parameters, etc, and then have the markdown content following in chunks separated by a marker (like #######). Then you include the file in your processing code, use PHP's output buffering to capture the content, split it into chunks, and run markdown and smartypants on it. Then you have HTML blocks in $content[0], $content[1], etc, which can be included into the template PHP file. An approach like this would work really well with a Dropbox backend.
- eoghan 16y agoWhat about just using HTML?
- limmeau 16y agoEasier to mess up the syntax when no specialized HTML editor is available (e.g. when editing your Dropbox site through your phone).
- 16y ago
- ohadpr 16y agoI think this is a great step in the right direction, publishing is getting simplified and with the advent of cheap storage that can be easily placed behind a webserver the options for static websites are quite interesting. I foresee more services of this type and more power to you guys for building this, I highly recommend exploring and iterating around more simple ways for people to 'create webpages' by simply dropping 'something' 'somewhere.
- ozziegooen 16y agoI've been using Dropbox to create a rails app with two other developers. We upload to Github every few days. This is a bit crude, but it's been insanely simple. I like being able to see updates in quasi-real time.
- davemcdermid 16y agoHey, had no idea my little app had made it onto here. Its running on ASP.NET MVC3, using MarkdownSharp to render the content. Would have put more info on the site if I'd known I was gonna get so much traffic today! Dave
- jasonkester 16y agoWhy add dropbox into the mix? You're essentially editing files directly on the server, since every change gets propagated live whether you want it to or now. If that's what you want to do (and remember, you never should), why not just do it directly?
- hitonagashi 16y agoRudimentary version control?
- jamesrcole 16y agoDropbox means you don't have to edit files directly on the server, it means you can edit them directly on your computer. That's going to be simpler and easier for some people.
- ludwigvan 16y agoWhat about using github pages? http://pages.github.com/ http://pages.github.com/ I am thinking of moving my blog there (statically generated jekyll site). Can anyone comment on whether it's practical or not? (For some history on Jekyll, read this article: http://tom.preston-werner.com/2008/11/17/blogging-like-a-hacker.html http://tom.preston-werner.com/2008/11/17/blogging-like-a-hac... )
- bootload 16y ago"... I am thinking of moving my blog there (statically generated jekyll site). Can anyone comment on whether it's practical or not? ..." Practical yes, you can even use your own domain, cf "Custom Domains". Jekyll is a great bit of software, I've read through all the source to see how it works.
- StuffMaster 16y agoThat is one oversized, vertically challenged site. Ugh.
- Brajeshwar 16y agoFor simplified quick publishing, have you guys seen http://pen.io/ http://pen.io/ (Participant at the recent Launch Conference)
- feint 16y agopen.io doesn't yet support markdown, but I'm planning on adding support for it.
- flashgordon 16y agoActually this makes me wonder, why dont most web-views of VCSs dont come with a web based text editor? Would be ideal when working behind firewalls/proxies.
- unicornporn 16y agoWith this, remember that there's a 10GB/day bandwidth cap for free accounts. https://www.dropbox.com/help/45 https://www.dropbox.com/help/45
- macca321 16y agoI would like to record for posterity that I was coding up pretty much exactly the same thing over the weekend without knowing this already existed, so when I launch please go easy. I have commits as proof!