Welcome to the official Mastodon account for the #WriteFreely project! We'll share smaller, more frequent updates here than we do on our official blog (@writefreely@blog.writefreely.org).
Spacebear now provides Write Freely managed hosting:
https://federation.spacebear.ee/software/writefreely
You can also get Write Freely managed hosting from https://writefreely.host and https://cloud68.co/instances/writefreely
Write Freely is a minimalist blogging platform which federates with the Fediverse. You can follow Write Freely blogs from Mastodon etc. More info at https://writefreely.org
If you're wondering about the status of the project, it hasn't gone anywhere!
We're having a little discussion about it here, if you're at all interested in helping out: https://github.com/writefreely/writefreely/discussions/550
Write Freely is another type of server on the Fediverse
Its focus is entirely on long form text posts, so things like articles, essays, stories etc. It has a very minimalist interface which aims to be as distraction-free as possible, so that it's easier for readers to actually read.
You can follow Write Freely accounts from Mastodon etc because they are both on the Fediverse.
There's more info on the official site at https://writefreely.org and you can follow the project at @writefreely
You can get a Write Freely account from servers listed at https://writefreely.org/instances or at https://fedidb.org/software/writefreely
There are official apps at https://writefreely.org/apps
Lots of folks are looking beyond Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Here's a slew of other options to explore.
https://www.pcmag.com/picks/quitting-twitter-try-these-alternative-social-media-networks
Fun fact: when you include photos in your #WriteFreely blog posts, they show up in your posts on #Mastodon and other #fediverse platforms!
Recent example from @flatmountain.
Some Fediverse alternatives to "big tech" social media:
Twitter ➡️ @Mastodon
Instagram ➡️ @pixelfed
YouTube ➡️ @peertube
Twitch ➡️ @owncast
Goodreads ➡️ @bookwyrm
Facebook Groups ➡️ @mobilizon
Medium ➡️ @writefreely
You don't need an account on all of these in order to interact with them.
Because they all use the ActivityPub open protocol, you can (for example) use a Mastodon account to follow someone on PixelFed or vice versa. That's why they are collectively known as the Fediverse, because they federate together at a technical level.
Also, this is an incomplete list, there are many other Fedi projects out there such as @funkwhale or @inventaire that are not direct alternatives but are their own thing.
You can start your own Medium-style social network for text articles using @writefreely:
It aims to be as distraction-free as possible, to make the audience more likely to read the text all the way through.
The easiest way to create a server is to use a managed hosting service (they do all the tech stuff for a monthly fee), such as https://writefreely.host or https://cloud68.co/instances/writefreely
#WriteFreely is part of the #Fediverse and its accounts can be followed from Mastodon.
I set up a #writefreely instance yesterday to play around with. It's a single go executable, and wasn't too hard to set up. I'm running it behind Apache, but you can run it standalone as well, either with SQLite or Mariadb. It would probably run fine on a Raspberry Pi or similar.
The blogging experience is pretty minimal, and it's not as complete as say Wordpress. For example, embedding an image requires an image host, as opposed to uploading a file through the web interface. Formatting is mostly through markdown. That said, that could be a feature depending on how you look at it.
It does seem like an easy way to get on the fediverse with something self-hosted, though. I don't know how long I'm going to keep this up, but if you want to follow it my blog is @toroidalcore@wf.unixcat.net.
The next major #WriteFreely release will include this change -- support for Markdown and HTML in blog descriptions: https://writefreely.org/pull/531
Announcement on @updates: https://write.as/updates/now-you-can-use-markdown-and-minimal-html-in-your-blog-descriptions-this-is
If you're embedding a Mastodon toot into a @writefreely blog post, change the embedding width to 600.
This will make the Mastodon toot fit across the Write Freely normal post width.
(Thank you to @zleap for the suggestion!)
Write Freely is a Fediverse blogging platform, you can find out more at https://writefreely.org
#FediTips #MastoTips #WriteFreelyTips #WriteFreely #Mastodon
Building the WriteFreely Action Extension in SwiftUI https://write.as/angelo/building-the-writefreely-action-extension-in-swiftui
Shopping weekend 2021
Finally, our @writefreely app for iOS helps you capture and publish your thoughts no matter where you are 📱
That's 33% off, or just $9.99 this weekend. https://writefreely.org/apps/ios
I'm wondering if it makes sense to add a new customization option to @writefreely / @write_as: the ability for posts to live on a sub-path, instead of on the top-level of your site.
Would love to hear your feedback on the forum: https://discuss.write.as/t/feedback-wanted-option-to-put-posts-on-a-sub-path/3829
WriteFreely for iOS v1.0.7 now available: https://write.as/angelo/writefreely-for-ios-v1-0-7-now-available?pk_campaign=rss-feed
Command line fans!
You can post to your @writefreely blog on the Fediverse through the official Write Freely command line app:
https://github.com/writeas/writeas-cli/tree/master/cmd/wf
It's available for Linux, Mac and Windows.
#FediTips #Fediverse #WriteFreely #Blog #Apps #CLI #CommandLine #CommandLines
Write Freely is a writing platform on the Fediverse, sort of like a Fedi version of Medium.
It lets you write long form texts on the Fediverse, and people can follow your Write Freely account, so they see your latest posts.
The official site is at https://writefreely.org, you can also follow them at @writefreely
You can find instances to sign up on at https://writefreely.org/instances
There are apps available at https://writefreely.org/apps
If you are techy, there's instructions for self-hosting an instance at https://writefreely.org/start
If you aren't techy, you can still make your own Write Freely instance by using https://writefreely.host
I'm thinking of moving our documentation to a more purpose-built platform / site generator, instead of the custom one we have now on https://writefreely.org/docs.
Ideally, we'd switch to a tool that supports Markdown (current docs: https://github.com/writefreely/documentation), and allows people to search.
Any recommendations?
I'm moving my office hours for WriteFreely Swift projects to Friday afternoons!: https://write.as/angelo/im-moving-my-office-hours-for-writefreely-swift-projects-to-friday-afternoons?pk_campaign=rss-feed
A clean blogging platform made just for writers and the fediverse. Flexible, private-by-default, and self-hostable.
Get started: https://writefreely.org
Get hosting: https://write.as (@write_as)