(Write.as is one among simplest online web publishing services powered by free software)
This article presents several website publishing libre software, like Writeas and Hackmdio, with their own gratis services that you can instantly try as alternative to WordPress.com the service. They are instant (very easy to use), the software are libre (source code available in free licenses), and their official services are gratis (no cost to publish everything). As online writer, you may use their services to publish writings just like normal website but easier to access (no registration needed) and more private (you can write anonymously). As learner, you can try to install the software on your Ubuntu system, to tinker with the code. You can try them right now and find which one is the best for you. And further if you wish you can install them on Ubuntu. Happy writing!
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Write.as
The easiest-to-use web publishing service here is Write.as. You can write anything and publish it right now without registration. You do not need to think about domain name or disk space anymore. The free software behind is named Writ:efreely, licensed under GNU AGPL, while the online service is available gratis.- Service: https://write.as/new
- Software: https://github.com/writeas/writ:efreely
- Software license: GNU AGPL
- Installation guide: https://github.com/writeas/writefreely#quick-start (does not need XAMPP)
Hackmd.io
Want to publish a writing written together by you and friends? Hackmdio is a collaborative writing service so you can write and publish an article together with friends remotely. Just create a new post, share the URL with friends, and start writing together. You can write anything and instantly publish it. The software you can download is named CodiMD, licensed under AGPL, while the online service is gratis without registration.
- Service: https://hackmd.io/new
- Software: https://github.com/hackmdio/codimd
- Software license: GNU AGPL
- Installation guide: Documentation (does not need XAMPP)
Etherpad.net
Etherpad is a collaborative publishing tool and Etherpad.net is good service you can use. You can think of Etherpad as simpler alternative to Hackmdio. Create new post, invite your friends with the URL, and start writing together online. Not only it can be used as simple blogging platform, but also it's good for education at school (e.g. together writing an exercise remotely).- Service: https://etherpad.net
- Software: https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite
- Software license: Apache 2.0
- Installation guide: https://github.com/ether/etherpad-lite#installation
Jekyllnow
Unlike WordPress, Jekyll is a static CMS, to publish writings in it you must use command lines, so it's not easy for most people. But thanks to Jekyllnow, you can publish writings in Jekyll without touching command lines, just use GitHub/GitLab web interface and commit and go. It's not as instant as Writeas or Hackmdio so I put it here in the last number.
- Service: any Jekyll online service like GitLab Pages and so on
- Software: https://github.com/barryclark/jekyll-now
- Software license: MIT
- Installation guide: https://github.com/barryclark/jekyll-now#quick-start
Worth Mentioning
- Telegra.ph: a blogging service from Telegram which is very similar to but easier to access than Writeas. It is the simplest among all here. The only problem is that the software is not available for download. I hope soon Telegram will release it under AGPL or other free license.
This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.