The software that I use is generally not a conventional option. I don't subscribe to the established #platforms. I either find them miserably dull or overly shiny for my liking. It helps that I know deep down that I am supporting a new and upcoming player for whom my business is worth. It means something; I mean something as one more customer. Not “just another customer”.

This also means that often the software is not fully baked. Some essential features are missing, or there are bugs around corner cases. I am an early adopter who pays more and still works as a tester. Sometimes, I get frustrated and switch to the popular option only to get out and back soon.

It is ok for me if you don't have all the features, but deliver whatever you do differently. Have an identity. Stand out.

I love the writing interface for write.as platform. No-nonsense. It does what it is supposed to do. Plus, all the other options, though available, get out of the way while I write. Grammarly works as expected. The posts are auto-saved in an intelligent way. At the same time, I can also build a list of drafts while working on them. The word count is visible, not the character count, as with Micro.blog that hosts my main website.

That last point tells you about the priority of these two #platforms that are very similar, yet different in many ways. Micro.blog compares itself to Twitter; hence considers itself closer to microblogging (well, it's in the name). So the writing interface looks similar to the one on Twitter. Or, for that matter, most social media platforms. A bare text box that accepts Markdown text.

Write.as, on the other hand, calls itself “a place for focused writing”. This shows with the editor. Every time I use it, I want to write long. I can't say the same for the text box that Micro.blog provides. It's suitable only for microblogging.

Sure. Given the platform's well-supported APIs, a list of clients already supports publishing to Micro.blog. So this is not an issue that many may face. However, most are only written for the Apple ecosystem, something I am not part of.

I love almost everything about Micro.blog. But I hate its writing interface and love the one provided by write.as. No surprise, then, that I am publishing most of my thoughts here.

This leaves me very confused. Which is my primary platform?

I wasn't aware that there's a way to create drafts with Write.as. With no option in the editor to save a post in-works as draft, I always thought it wasn't possible. I should read a bit first before deciding on what I know. In fairness, though, the workflow is different, slightly reverse from all other #platforms. You basically publish a post and expect it to be a draft as it was done anonymously.

Anyway, every time I access Write.as, everything looks too fragmented to me. I land on a page which is a blank one with a blinking cursor. Brilliant! But what next? There's nothing else if you don't know where to go. I can see my blog posts, edit them. Do you want the community? There is a different product. Pictures you say? That's another different product.

For example, I still wonder how do I add an image here? Can I? Or is the image's workflow separate? Possibly, it is part of the Rich editor available as a Pro feature?

All said, this is a nice editor.

There is something wonderful about a clean writing and reading interface. I am always a big fan of #platforms that build themselves on clean interfaces. It helps. Does it mean there is no place for flashy sites? Absolutely not.

I have come to a realization recently. Blogs have made web boring. Think about it. Every blog looks the same. All themes are more or less the same. A slight layout change here. A margin or padding there. Varied columns. But all look the same to me. You know that you are reading a blog.

Imagine if every page was custom. Well, let me help you. Check this site by Aegir. No, don't just look at the homepage. Look at every post. Each post has different design. What brilliance! I am absolutely impressed and saddened at the same time. And jealous too. I wish I could create something like this. I can't.

Well, why can't I? I mean, why can't I just create html pages? Isn't that the first line of code I wrote?