Tinkering in the background with Blot
I’ve been pretty busy tinkering in the background with Blot. I don’t really know what I’m going but I enjoy figuring it out as I go along. A new template will be going live sometime soon I hope.
One of the main challenges for me has been to devise a low friction publishing workflow from any device. (I am writing this on my phone).
So far…
- I run a shortcut on my phone that asks for a date (or just uses Now) and a post title.
- The shortcut saves the file in my Dropbox as a draft post.
- I find the post in Ulysses
- I write the post and complete the metadata (which has been partially pre-populated by the shortcut)
- I move the file out of the drafts folder to a ‘live folder’ which Blot then publishes
- At some point I save the file to my offline archives (although it will already be synced offline to my computer, I like to have everything together in my archives proper)
To do…
- Update the shortcut to ask me to choose pre-defined metadata (such as tags)
- More tinkering with the template before it goes live
- I want the main feed, and entry page to look right before it goes live
- Then I will update other pages such as archives
- I want the main feed, and entry page to look right before it goes live
- Create custom RSS feeds to assist my publishing workflow on other platforms.
- Work some more on my photo publishing shortcut
- Write. More. Often.
Goals…
- Make this site my go-to place to publish on-the-fly
- That is super-easy to use to publish text AND images
- And use it as a platform of notes, research, and thoughts
- That may help me create larger projects
- And actively form the structure for those potential projects
Cons…
- One of the main issues for me is how well Dropbox is supported by various iOS markdown apps. (Not very well). I like Ulysses but ouch £40/year.
- This may be wider than a Dropbox issue. If Blot were to support iCloud I’m not sure my options would improve much.
[Context: Originally posted on my Blot-hosted blog.]