If you’re using something like Hugo for a blog, I highly recommend using Netlify for handling the process of hosting it. They’re free plan is very generous and a modest blog would fall well within. And they make the process of getting it from a git repository to a site near effortless
2 Likes
There is a paid solid option:
I make do with hosting with Mythic Beasts and uploading once I’ve built the site. As I tend to run images through Retrobatch and ImageOptim before uploading it all, it’s not to much of a pain to be at a PC to post. I will however take a look - I’m well within the bandwidth limits, so that shouldn’t be an issue.
That was the one I was thinking off, but couldn’t remember the name!
I have to say though, if you self-host your own WordPress blog, use the default themes and customize them appropriately to your needs (child theme, colors, etc.), don’t install a dozen complex plugins, and just update everything consistently, self-hosted WordPress is pretty secure and stable.
And if it’s only a simple setup (WP core, WP default theme, child theme for customization, one security plugin, one backup plugin), and you just click “update all” every time updates are available, the odds of anything going “boom” are almost nonexistent.
The “WP updates break things” experience a lot of people have almost always happens when third-party plugins get out of sync with WP’s core and/or each other. Not a problem if everything on your site is from Automattic. 
And I think MarsEdit is still a current thing for posting. Just syncs to your WP blog.
3 Likes
@mina - Statamic looks like a very interesting CMS option. And apparently it has been around since 2012! How could I have missed it? Why does it seem to get so little press?
I have always been and continue to be a huge fan of Wordpress. It’s true that it’s very powerful and allows lots of complicated features, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. That all comes down to choosing a simple theme like some of the ones mentioned above.
It goes against your initial request, but I believe self-hosting with Wordpress has an important factor in its favor. It will pretty much always be yours to control. Ever since I got burned by Typepad (“burned” may be too strong, but I became disillusioned with its lack of development over time), I have stuck with Wordpress with a few digressions into Squarespace for client sites. My own opinion is that companies like Typepad, Squarespace, and Medium are always going to get left behind – eventually. A single company just can’t be as flexible as something like the Wordpress community.
@webwalrus is right: MarsEdit is still a thing, and I use it a lot, but only on the Mac. Daniel Jalkut, the developer, updated to version 4 recently. I would not be terribly surprised to see an iOS version, but would also not be surprised if it doesn’t happen until 2022.
The Wordpress app has gotten much better, and if you’re just adding blog posts through it, it’s really quite good. It doesn’t support custom fields and some other fancier features, but it’s a solid editor and they are pushing updates like crazy.
1 Like
Statamic and its database-driven cousin Craft CMS are well known in the agency community. They are really useful tools. I think they require too much setup and template development to work for people who want something quick and easy, though; they’re optimized for designers and developers who want to get all the little details right, and create a great authoring experience for their users, as effectively as possible.
Three recent releases of WordPress and the new Gutenberg editing system has really improved WP. It now head a “focused writing” mode that removed everything on screen the writing well. Give it another look.
Is also a good platform. Dead simple and focused on writing.
1 Like
I’ve been around the world and back with blogging services. Typepad, Wordpress, squarespace, statamic, various dropbox powered platforms, am Evernote powered platform, tumblr, posterous, and probably some others.
Then I realized it was all crazy. Wordpress is very easy. It plays well with lots of other apps. You can host it yourself or pay them for a hosted page.
People act like it’s a huge hassle to update plugins, like you’re maintaining a boat. But it’s not. At all. Especially if you don’t use a bunch of them. Every once in a while I’ll log in, and if I see something needs to be updated, I click “update.”
I’ve never had to think about my blog service less than I do now. There’s a way to do anything you want to do with it. I can post to it from Ulysses or iA Writer, or just about any other text editor with Shortcuts.
Ghost is probably fine too.
But I would save yourself the trouble and just move to Wordpress. Like a gentleman.
3 Likes
Posterous and FriendFeed were great ways to crosspost to multiple social feeds (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr), but the were lacking as pure blogging tools.
I agree about Wordpress, I disagree about self-hosting. Wordpress plugins are infamous for a raft of security issues, with (here’s a major one in 2017 affecting upwards of 1 million sites, and another in 2020 affecting 400,000 ones), with the need to regularly keep atop of all reports and be able to immediately update or be willing to hobble your site by disabling the plugin in question. And don’t forget Wordpress software itself, whose update often have dozens of security updates, some pushed out because 0-days were discovered. Vulnerabilities typically allow hackers to inject code in vulnerable sites which they use to redirect incoming visitors to all sorts of nasties, such as tech support scams, sites peddling malware-laced software updates, or plain ol’ spammy pages showing ads… or worse. Automated hacking tools can easily hit a self-hosted Wordpress blog before a security patch to a plugin is made… or even known about.
That’s why I recommend Wordpress’s own hosting service. (There are several quality managed-wordpress companies out there, but they’re pretty much all business-oriented, costing hundreds of dollars/year to start.) You can start for free and pay starting at $50/yr for sites that use your own domain, allows plugins (a limited, approved set Wordpress manages and updates) and offers users an easy hands-off experience.
A Wordpress site for the same price or less than the OP is paying would offer the same or more features, and no need (as with SquareSpace) to deal with managing and troubleshooting site issues and webhosts.
3 Likes
I understand you want to avoid WP .com. However, with the correct theme for your purpose it is a sound way to go. KYou can do good things with WordPress or xxxxx, or xxxxx. However it takes time perhaps more than you prefer? There is a plethora of videos on YouTube on how to setup your site. But, you can easily spend a few hours just watching and not doing.
Hire someone to do it for you. If you have a simple WP theme in mind, an hour or so should get a basic WP site up and running. Then some more time needs to be spent on a guided tour so you can manage your own site.
Added: Selecting a good WordPress theme if you are doing it on your own takes time too. I looks like suggestions have been made in the forum. This may help.
I don’t know if another voice here is helpful but in case it is, here is my $0.02:
- For simple blogging, use micro.blog. It’s the only blogging service I’ve been able to find that’s as easy as posting to Twitter. It’s even easier than posting to Facebook.
- If your needs are a little more complex, go with wordpress.com.
- And if you’re comfortable with a bit of fiddling, self-host with wordpress.org.
1 Like
The whole point is that he’s “looking for a good blogging platform so I can move off of Squarespace”
Ok, that was not clear. Personally, I like to help people get away from Squarespace and Drobo, for differing reasons.
I’ve been working on that and frankly it does not work well. The app does not support the magic keyboard well. It’s still clunky.
The iPad WordPress app is getting better and better in recent years. I’ve used it to work with the back end quite a bit when needed and not near my Mac, and for simple posts I usually write in Ulysses (on iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard) and use its integrated publish-to-Wordpress function. I should note I have self-hosted Wordpress — I don’t know what changes with Wordpress.com.
Out of curiosity; why?
My guess… because both are great until they’re not and then they’re a pain.
Drobos are brilliant until they break and the only solution is another Drobo. This compares to other NAS units that use standard RAID schemes. And from what I have heard from friends who use them, they do go bang eventually.
Squarespace is also brilliant — I used it myself for a while and I was very impressed. But… as soon as you find something it can’t do, you’re just plain out of luck. In my case it was “embed a Flickr image” which (at the time, don’t know about now) was simply impossible without going into developer mode. The other downside to Sqaurespace is cost. 10 bucks or whatever it is now is good enough value for a web site with that kind of power behind it, but I wanted to run three separate web sites on three domains. That triples the cost and then it’s not worth it, especially compared to a shared hosting plan. It’s swings and roundabouts for sure, as there is a lot more work to self hosting, but it gets expensive real fast if you have many sites to run.
One thing Squarespace does better than Drobo is getting your data out. When I quit it to return to Wordpress, I was able to get the bulk of my content out easily.
If you are into coding, Gatsby is a nice framework and has good blogging starters which you can use out of the box. Generates static html and uses markdown for the blog content. Use any markdown editor you like to write a post. You could use some tools and automations to reduce the manual work. Or Ghost is also great without any coding.
I know im late to the party here but while everyone has offered up many niche/bespoke solutions, there is one downside of not using something with some marketshare and that is… “is it going to be around tomorrow?”
Its pretty save to say Squarespace and Wordpress for example are gonna be around tomorrow and the following years. Some of these others who knows. I hate that uncertainty. Especially if I am going to put a lot of work into something.
food for thought.
1 Like