5 ms·

Pen.io is now probably the most minimalist blog platform on the Web

63 points by feint 15y ago

runn1ng 15y ago
The most minimalist blog platform is having your .txt file online and then append to it via bash.
- jgw 15y ago
  You used bash? Luxury. We used to have to get up at 10 o'clock at night, half an hour before we went to bed, edit our blog entries with "ed", tie them to pigeon's feet, and send them to the Web, where they'd arrive a week later, if you were lucky. Now you try to tell the young people of today that. They won't believe you.
- Adaptive 15y ago
  googlecl posting to blogger, fwiw. I'm not maintaining a blogger blog, but the command line options are pretty neat. http://code.google.com/p/googlecl/ http://code.google.com/p/googlecl/
iamwil 15y ago
Wait, how is there no backend on pen.io? IT's got to be hosted somewhere, and the pages have to be stored somewhere, right? Or is it simply using something like github or dropbox, and serving it publicly from there and pen.io is just a conduit?
- santry 15y ago
  The article's author seems to be using the term "back end" to refer to an administrative area of the site where you log in to make changes.
- latitude 15y ago
  It must be storing them in localStorage. That would make a truly minimalist blog - the one that is visible only to its author :)
switz 15y ago
It might be the simplest for the average user to use, but there's no way it's the most minimalistic. That has to go to SSGs, for example Jekyll.
- mhd 15y ago
  Regarding output? Any sufficently advanced SSG is indistinguishable from a dynamic site (cf. Movable Type). Regarding the software itself? Even default jekyll has quite a few dependencies, compared to something like blosxom or even simple dynamic blog engines (bet there are a few that aren't more than one page of PHP). "Minimalist" gets thrown about a lot, too much, probably. Especially for software, but even for presentation/design, where "simple" would often fit better. Never mind it's all bigger than just using "cat" for blogging and exposing your .plan over HTTP…
mike-cardwell 15y ago
Should add rel="nofollow" to the anchor tags it creates to help minimise value of the service to SEO abusers.
idan 15y ago
calepin.co is effectively a hosted version of pelican, a minimalist python SSG, integrated with dropbox. Pretty nice and very minimal.
- libraryatnight 15y ago
  This is lovely, I'm going to give it a shot. Thanks for the link :)
giulivo 15y ago
I was looking for some demo pages, but the link at the bottom http://pen.io/showlast.php http://pen.io/showlast.php (latest pages) is actually showing only the latest, which are unfortunately frequently left empty or unmodified. it would be nice to have some "pick random" link, choosing across some well visited pages.
kmfrk 15y ago
Didn't the whole "minimalism" fad die a while ago? Tumblr is pretty minimalistic in its own way.
- latitude 15y ago
  Erroneously calling random things that lack functionality and polish "minimalist" is a fad, but the minimalism itself is an well established form of design.
Brajeshwar 15y ago
I think it even won some award at Launch, 2011.
ittan 15y ago
Error pages would be nice if handled correctly, I type http://pen.io/show http://pen.io/show ? You are running apache, I believe this should be a snap :) Cheers, Jose
jokulhaups 15y ago
Nobody has bothered to mention the horrible name/logo combination?
- rvkennedy 15y ago
  It looks nothing like what you're thinking of. Maybe the Iceland domain name taken?
  - jokulhaups 15y ago
    I admit it's a stretch, but the combination really pushed me into blue territory.
personlurking 15y ago
Drag and drop photos don't work for me/on Safari
Zigurd 15y ago
I suppose Iceland's domain registrar was busy that day.
noja 15y ago
You have to be kidding me: "penio"? It sounds like a foreign name for penis. Even the logo looks phallic. Come on. Companies spend a fortune checking names. This site is in English and has a single letter difference.
- kirubakaran 15y ago
  Sometimes, a pen is just a pen. :)
  - noja 15y ago
    Here it's more like a sword.
angelortega 15y ago
It's almost the same as something called http://jottit.com http://jottit.com from a million years ago. I think it's another exercise in futility. I find the "penio" name and the phallus-like logo fascinating and intringuing, though.
Xk 15y ago
There is an XSS on pen.io. I posted this a while ago, but feint didn't fix it. http://xssdemo.pen.io http://xssdemo.pen.io Suggestion: It is very hard to allow HTML but remove JavaScript. Write a method called something like isJSPresent() and then after you've done your filtering, check if JavaScript is on the page. If it is, return a HTML-encoded version of the page. Then, the security of your page will rely only on the correctness of that single method, and not on the correctness of your rewriter (which is much more complex).
jmilloy 15y ago
For better or for worse, I'm a fan of minimalism, but it has to just work. That's not the case currently - I'm finding this very frustrating. -I made a page, then registered, but there's no way to associate a previously made page to an account. (I guess I have to change the original name to a throwaway account and start again) -No way to delete a page? -I tried to make a simple list of links. It works once, but when you edit the page a second time, the :link tags are no longer properly parsed. -Links move around or disappear in different views. In particular, the contacts link is gone when I log in. The list goes on, but... am I the only one with all of these simple usage problems? Or have people upvoted this submission without actually trying the product?
- beefman 15y ago
  I've always found http://jottit.com http://jottit.com to be excellent.
mkramlich 15y ago
vi index.html
networked 15y ago
The old pastehtml.com seems easier to use to me.
PlanetFunk 15y ago
After seeing this, I decided to attempt my own minimalist (dropbox) blog. Just need to automate the post list somehow... http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26639308/miniblog/index.html http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26639308/miniblog/index.html Not a real blog replacement, but it was fun to play with.

63 points by feint 15y ago

runn1ng 15y ago

The most minimalist blog platform is having your .txt file online and then append to it via bash.

jgw 15y ago
You used bash? Luxury. We used to have to get up at 10 o'clock at night, half an hour before we went to bed, edit our blog entries with "ed", tie them to pigeon's feet, and send them to the Web, where they'd arrive a week later, if you were lucky. Now you try to tell the young people of today that. They won't believe you.
Adaptive 15y ago
googlecl posting to blogger, fwiw. I'm not maintaining a blogger blog, but the command line options are pretty neat. http://code.google.com/p/googlecl/ http://code.google.com/p/googlecl/

iamwil 15y ago

Wait, how is there no backend on pen.io? IT's got to be hosted somewhere, and the pages have to be stored somewhere, right? Or is it simply using something like github or dropbox, and serving it publicly from there and pen.io is just a conduit?

santry 15y ago
The article's author seems to be using the term "back end" to refer to an administrative area of the site where you log in to make changes.
latitude 15y ago
It must be storing them in localStorage. That would make a truly minimalist blog - the one that is visible only to its author :)

switz 15y ago

It might be the simplest for the average user to use, but there's no way it's the most minimalistic. That has to go to SSGs, for example Jekyll.

mhd 15y ago
Regarding output? Any sufficently advanced SSG is indistinguishable from a dynamic site (cf. Movable Type). Regarding the software itself? Even default jekyll has quite a few dependencies, compared to something like blosxom or even simple dynamic blog engines (bet there are a few that aren't more than one page of PHP). "Minimalist" gets thrown about a lot, too much, probably. Especially for software, but even for presentation/design, where "simple" would often fit better. Never mind it's all bigger than just using "cat" for blogging and exposing your .plan over HTTP…

mike-cardwell 15y ago

Should add rel="nofollow" to the anchor tags it creates to help minimise value of the service to SEO abusers.

idan 15y ago

calepin.co is effectively a hosted version of pelican, a minimalist python SSG, integrated with dropbox. Pretty nice and very minimal.

libraryatnight 15y ago
This is lovely, I'm going to give it a shot. Thanks for the link :)

giulivo 15y ago

I was looking for some demo pages, but the link at the bottom http://pen.io/showlast.php http://pen.io/showlast.php (latest pages) is actually showing only the latest, which are unfortunately frequently left empty or unmodified. it would be nice to have some "pick random" link, choosing across some well visited pages.

kmfrk 15y ago

Didn't the whole "minimalism" fad die a while ago? Tumblr is pretty minimalistic in its own way.

latitude 15y ago
Erroneously calling random things that lack functionality and polish "minimalist" is a fad, but the minimalism itself is an well established form of design.

Brajeshwar 15y ago

I think it even won some award at Launch, 2011.

ittan 15y ago

Error pages would be nice if handled correctly, I type http://pen.io/show http://pen.io/show ? You are running apache, I believe this should be a snap :) Cheers, Jose

jokulhaups 15y ago

Nobody has bothered to mention the horrible name/logo combination?

rvkennedy 15y ago
It looks nothing like what you're thinking of. Maybe the Iceland domain name taken?
- jokulhaups 15y ago
  I admit it's a stretch, but the combination really pushed me into blue territory.

personlurking 15y ago

Drag and drop photos don't work for me/on Safari

Zigurd 15y ago

I suppose Iceland's domain registrar was busy that day.

noja 15y ago

You have to be kidding me: "penio"? It sounds like a foreign name for penis. Even the logo looks phallic. Come on. Companies spend a fortune checking names. This site is in English and has a single letter difference.

kirubakaran 15y ago
Sometimes, a pen is just a pen. :)
- noja 15y ago
  Here it's more like a sword.

angelortega 15y ago

It's almost the same as something called http://jottit.com http://jottit.com from a million years ago. I think it's another exercise in futility. I find the "penio" name and the phallus-like logo fascinating and intringuing, though.

Xk 15y ago

There is an XSS on pen.io. I posted this a while ago, but feint didn't fix it. http://xssdemo.pen.io http://xssdemo.pen.io Suggestion: It is very hard to allow HTML but remove JavaScript. Write a method called something like isJSPresent() and then after you've done your filtering, check if JavaScript is on the page. If it is, return a HTML-encoded version of the page. Then, the security of your page will rely only on the correctness of that single method, and not on the correctness of your rewriter (which is much more complex).

jmilloy 15y ago

For better or for worse, I'm a fan of minimalism, but it has to just work. That's not the case currently - I'm finding this very frustrating. -I made a page, then registered, but there's no way to associate a previously made page to an account. (I guess I have to change the original name to a throwaway account and start again) -No way to delete a page? -I tried to make a simple list of links. It works once, but when you edit the page a second time, the :link tags are no longer properly parsed. -Links move around or disappear in different views. In particular, the contacts link is gone when I log in. The list goes on, but... am I the only one with all of these simple usage problems? Or have people upvoted this submission without actually trying the product?

beefman 15y ago
I've always found http://jottit.com http://jottit.com to be excellent.

mkramlich 15y ago

vi index.html

networked 15y ago

The old pastehtml.com seems easier to use to me.

PlanetFunk 15y ago

After seeing this, I decided to attempt my own minimalist (dropbox) blog. Just need to automate the post list somehow... http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26639308/miniblog/index.html http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26639308/miniblog/index.html Not a real blog replacement, but it was fun to play with.