6 ms·

Show HN: Minimalist Blogging Platform

48 points by okozzie 4y ago

jay-barronville 4y ago
It appears to be down. (Maybe it’s just me though.)
- okozzie 4y ago
  Hmm, does it work now?
  - jay-barronville 4y ago
    Yes, it loads now!
    - okozzie 4y ago
      Nice!
blueridge 4y ago
Works! I pasted a rough draft brain dump that I had in my notes for a first post about product management bullshit: https://colors.notepin.co/product-management-bullshit https://colors.notepin.co/product-management-bullshit
- okozzie 4y ago
  Awesome haha, and relieved that it works! :)
  - www_harka_com 4y ago
    Why do you have word-break: break-all; on anchor tags? Makes the home/archive pages look bad. Example: https://colors.notepin.co https://colors.notepin.co text-align: justify; would however make the pages look nice though.
    - okozzie 4y ago
      Fixing! Edit: Fixed! :)
      - www_harka_com 4y ago
        You are very welcome.
- replwoacause 4y ago
  nice post!
- mxuribe 4y ago
  @blueridge Well done!!! For your next blog post, you might consider adding Jabberwocky! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knAvKI33LOM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knAvKI33LOM Because, "...products are for people who don't have a presentation!"
  - blueridge 4y ago
    Oh I had not seen this before, pure gold. Ha!
makk 4y ago
Why? What itch does this scratch?
- okozzie 4y ago
  Why not? It's an easy way to create an online blog, with a nice distraction-free editor.
- marymkearney 4y ago
  This looks cool. Use case for whistleblower situations, to post info anonymously online with a link to share? Like archive.today for text (and could also be posted there). Not spam, real stuff.
simonw 4y ago
It's missing RSS/Atom feeds, which I think are a pretty important feature for a blogging platform. Not too hard of a feature to add, though.
- okozzie 4y ago
  Will add today! :)
simonw 4y ago
The https://notepin.co/ https://notepin.co/ home page would benefit enormously from links to some example blogs hosted on the platform. I found some by running a Google search for site:notepin.co but I imagine most people won't think to do that - and it's asking a lot to require users to create an account before they can see what the end product will look like.
- okozzie 4y ago
  Will do! But they can get straight to the editor without any signup -- and publishing a blog doesn't require an email address
  - simonw 4y ago
    Honestly for me the biggest burden is being asked to pick a password! Now I have to open up my password manager, generate a new password, write it down... it's a non-zero amount of commitment.
    - okozzie 4y ago
      Good point, will add the demo blogs! :)
seti0Cha 4y ago
Desperately needs an "About" page which gives some indication of who's behind this, what the plans for it are re. funding, and why it was created. Basically, you need to give people some sense that this will stay around and continue to operate under terms people are willing to live with before they will spend a lot of time adding content. Also, if this takes off, I hope you are ready for the scammers and spammers who will want to take advantage of it.
- deafpolygon 4y ago
  Also, privacy? It claims to be anonymous - how far do you go in keeping things anonymous?
- okozzie 4y ago
  Agreed, this has actually been around since 2017 though haha -- started off as a note taking platform and I rebuilt it from scratch recently
  - aliqot 4y ago
    thanks for making it for us. the scrolling animation was nice, a moment to reminisce on our fallen friend <marquee>
    - okozzie 4y ago
      Thank you! :) If you wanna see something stranger, check out https://straw.page https://straw.page It's a website builder I made designed for weird sites, with marquee and wordart! :)
      - aliqot 4y ago
        That's so cool :) Just curious, while I've got you on the line, what's your actual desk or workspace look like? I made a page to test it out - this reminds me of a way cooler expages. love the wysiwyg builder https://aliqot.straw.page/ https://aliqot.straw.page/
Towaway69 4y ago
Nice! Reminds me of iA writer - clean, distraction free and simple! I hope it stays that way :+1: Edit: Small point: needs favicon, just added to home screen and it got the browser icon...
- okozzie 4y ago
  Thank you! And for sure haha, plan to keep it distraction-free and minimal! :) And thanks for pointing that out - fixing!
kactus 4y ago
Digging the design! Especially the SVG text train around the border. Is it 100% animated by SVG or is there some JS involved?
- okozzie 4y ago
  Thank you! :) There's some JS involved to create the size of the SVG based on the window size!
mmcclure 4y ago
I agree with others, the homepage _looks_ awesome, but it could use at least a tiny bit more info, links to existing blogs, something. Might just be me, but I didn't assume the get started link would take me to an editor, and I wasn't ready to go through a signup workflow. Might help to make that a little more obvious ("go to the editor"). Editor also looks pleasant. Reminds me quite a bit of Telegraph (https://telegra.ph/ https://telegra.ph/)
- okozzie 4y ago
  Thank you! :) And agreed, will add a Demo blog shortly + Update the button text!
- masukomi 4y ago
  "a tiny bit more info" that is... maybe overly polite. It needs info. It needs LOTS of info. "a tiny bit more info" is not helpful when there is no info to begin with. "minimalist blogging platform" tells me ONLY that there will be a blog produced at the end of my endeavors. The site itself doesn't even say minimalist. It says "extremely simple". Is it a static blog? Is it a dynamic blog? Does it use Markdown? Does it use a WYSYWYG editor? Does it even HAVE an editor? Does it have themes? Is it even themable? Can i get my data out of it? can I have my own domain? If I don't want to use my domain, what are my domain options. Is any part of it configurable? Is it open source? Is it minimalist, or is it simple, or is it both? No-one should sign up for blogging platform soley because someone claimed, without any supporting evidence, that it's "extremely simple"
calltrak 4y ago
[dead]

48 points by okozzie 4y ago

jay-barronville 4y ago

It appears to be down. (Maybe it’s just me though.)

okozzie 4y ago
Hmm, does it work now?
- jay-barronville 4y ago
  Yes, it loads now!
  - okozzie 4y ago
    Nice!

blueridge 4y ago

Works! I pasted a rough draft brain dump that I had in my notes for a first post about product management bullshit: https://colors.notepin.co/product-management-bullshit https://colors.notepin.co/product-management-bullshit

okozzie 4y ago
Awesome haha, and relieved that it works! :)
- www_harka_com 4y ago
  Why do you have word-break: break-all; on anchor tags? Makes the home/archive pages look bad. Example: https://colors.notepin.co https://colors.notepin.co text-align: justify; would however make the pages look nice though.
  - okozzie 4y ago
    Fixing! Edit: Fixed! :)
    - www_harka_com 4y ago
      You are very welcome.
replwoacause 4y ago
nice post!
mxuribe 4y ago
@blueridge Well done!!! For your next blog post, you might consider adding Jabberwocky! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knAvKI33LOM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knAvKI33LOM Because, "...products are for people who don't have a presentation!"
- blueridge 4y ago
  Oh I had not seen this before, pure gold. Ha!

makk 4y ago

Why? What itch does this scratch?

okozzie 4y ago
Why not? It's an easy way to create an online blog, with a nice distraction-free editor.
marymkearney 4y ago
This looks cool. Use case for whistleblower situations, to post info anonymously online with a link to share? Like archive.today for text (and could also be posted there). Not spam, real stuff.

simonw 4y ago

It's missing RSS/Atom feeds, which I think are a pretty important feature for a blogging platform. Not too hard of a feature to add, though.

okozzie 4y ago
Will add today! :)

simonw 4y ago

The https://notepin.co/ https://notepin.co/ home page would benefit enormously from links to some example blogs hosted on the platform. I found some by running a Google search for site:notepin.co but I imagine most people won't think to do that - and it's asking a lot to require users to create an account before they can see what the end product will look like.

okozzie 4y ago
Will do! But they can get straight to the editor without any signup -- and publishing a blog doesn't require an email address
- simonw 4y ago
  Honestly for me the biggest burden is being asked to pick a password! Now I have to open up my password manager, generate a new password, write it down... it's a non-zero amount of commitment.
  - okozzie 4y ago
    Good point, will add the demo blogs! :)

seti0Cha 4y ago

Desperately needs an "About" page which gives some indication of who's behind this, what the plans for it are re. funding, and why it was created. Basically, you need to give people some sense that this will stay around and continue to operate under terms people are willing to live with before they will spend a lot of time adding content. Also, if this takes off, I hope you are ready for the scammers and spammers who will want to take advantage of it.

deafpolygon 4y ago
Also, privacy? It claims to be anonymous - how far do you go in keeping things anonymous?
okozzie 4y ago
Agreed, this has actually been around since 2017 though haha -- started off as a note taking platform and I rebuilt it from scratch recently
- aliqot 4y ago
  thanks for making it for us. the scrolling animation was nice, a moment to reminisce on our fallen friend <marquee>
  - okozzie 4y ago
    Thank you! :) If you wanna see something stranger, check out https://straw.page https://straw.page It's a website builder I made designed for weird sites, with marquee and wordart! :)
    - aliqot 4y ago
      That's so cool :) Just curious, while I've got you on the line, what's your actual desk or workspace look like? I made a page to test it out - this reminds me of a way cooler expages. love the wysiwyg builder https://aliqot.straw.page/ https://aliqot.straw.page/

Towaway69 4y ago

Nice! Reminds me of iA writer - clean, distraction free and simple! I hope it stays that way :+1: Edit: Small point: needs favicon, just added to home screen and it got the browser icon...

okozzie 4y ago
Thank you! And for sure haha, plan to keep it distraction-free and minimal! :) And thanks for pointing that out - fixing!

kactus 4y ago

Digging the design! Especially the SVG text train around the border. Is it 100% animated by SVG or is there some JS involved?

okozzie 4y ago
Thank you! :) There's some JS involved to create the size of the SVG based on the window size!

mmcclure 4y ago

I agree with others, the homepage _looks_ awesome, but it could use at least a tiny bit more info, links to existing blogs, something. Might just be me, but I didn't assume the get started link would take me to an editor, and I wasn't ready to go through a signup workflow. Might help to make that a little more obvious ("go to the editor"). Editor also looks pleasant. Reminds me quite a bit of Telegraph (https://telegra.ph/ https://telegra.ph/)

okozzie 4y ago
Thank you! :) And agreed, will add a Demo blog shortly + Update the button text!
masukomi 4y ago
"a tiny bit more info" that is... maybe overly polite. It needs info. It needs LOTS of info. "a tiny bit more info" is not helpful when there is no info to begin with. "minimalist blogging platform" tells me ONLY that there will be a blog produced at the end of my endeavors. The site itself doesn't even say minimalist. It says "extremely simple". Is it a static blog? Is it a dynamic blog? Does it use Markdown? Does it use a WYSYWYG editor? Does it even HAVE an editor? Does it have themes? Is it even themable? Can i get my data out of it? can I have my own domain? If I don't want to use my domain, what are my domain options. Is any part of it configurable? Is it open source? Is it minimalist, or is it simple, or is it both? No-one should sign up for blogging platform soley because someone claimed, without any supporting evidence, that it's "extremely simple"

calltrak 4y ago

[dead]