When I decided to create a new home on the web, the aim was to choose a non-expensive hosting solution that’s hassle-free and takes care of all, or the majority of the heavy lifting for me. I wanted a simple space to blog more on the ‘informal’ side to start with, on a platform that offered an easy-to-use web and app interface — bonus points if it had blog post formats — like Tumblr. I wasn’t overly impressed with most of the offerings at the time, and I didn’t want a return to Tumblr.
So I decided to take things a bit more seriously and created a proper home geared more towards ‘formal’ and organic writing, documenting my thoughts and perspectives on varying topics. A home that I can also, one day, host a mobile photography collection. So basically going all in and creating more of a ‘website’ with dedicated pages and sections hosting my various interests.
Bar the yearly hosting cost, Ghost ticked many boxes for my requirements after making the most of their 14-day free trial to check out the platform. I now feel settled on the platform, for the foreseeable future. I have, however, kept an eye on new blogging platforms, especially ones that aim to strip away all the heavy load whilst providing simple write-and-publish blog interfaces without ongoing constant regular management of other site resources.
Simple, hassle-free blogging…
Pika and Scribbles seem to be precisely what I was looking for at the beginning of 2023, but alas, neither existed for public signups at the time. Although I haven't extensively used and tried a lot of existing blogging platforms like Write.as and Weblog.lol, between Pika and Scribbles, the latter has impressed me the most. The creator, Vincent, announced a one-off chance for early adopters to own a Lifetime account, I thought it was a good time to request an invitation and check out the platform after weeks of observing and following its development.
To say I am impressed by Scribbles might be an understatement. Vincent has done a tremendous job crafting this platform and staying true to calls of making the creation of websites/blogs easier, especially for new adopters. The Scribbles signup and onboarding process is seamless. The platform UX is delightful. The writing interface is simple and effective with the right text formatting tools. There are currently no themes editing functions in terms of customisation, or unnecessary app and service integrations, although you can now add custom domains and use Vincent's Tinylytics analytics service if you wish to monitor traffic to your Scribbles blog.
What the future holds…
I’m happy with Chamline on Ghost as of writing this, and planned to stay on the platform for at least a couple of years. I have, however, signed up for a Scribbles Lifetime plan, to show support for Vincent to continue developing the platform. I may start using it once I figure out a use case that doesn’t distract and take away too much from writing and publishing more regularly here on Chamline. Subject to continued development and improvements, who knows what the future holds, I may also consider migrating Chamline to Scribbles since the lifetime plan allows for the creation of unlimited blogs under one account.
👏 Kudos!
For anyone looking to start, and wanting a hassle and stress-free management of the blogging platform backend — or season bloggers alike looking to simplify their blogging tools without too much compromise — now is a great time to have a look at the likes of Scribbles, Pika, Weblog, Write.as, and an honourable mention to Micro.blog. You cannot go wrong with these platforms if all you want is more focus on writing and publishing.
With the shithousery happening on certain social media platforms and the rise of people taking up blogging again, I’m grateful people are putting their skills and know-how to create easy-to-adopt blogging platforms that allow netizens a space to call their own.
