Or you could use the new Google Sites which has a lot of the same features and benefits. https://sites.google.com/
The footer is obnoxious.
Show HN: You Don't Need WordPress – Create a Blog With Only Google Docs
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Re: Show HN: You Don't Need WordPress – Create a Blog With Only Google Docs
#52How hard is it to just create a simple html file and throw som CSS on it ?
Re: Show HN: You Don't Need WordPress – Create a Blog With Only Google Docs
#53How hard is it to just create a simple html file and throw som CSS on it ?
For most people, pretty hard. This comment reminds me of the comments left when Dropbox first shipped saying stuff like "This won't sell, people who want this service will just use rsync and rent a VPS"
Re: Show HN: You Don't Need WordPress – Create a Blog With Only Google Docs
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
Setting a site up with Jekyll took less than a weekend, and I'm a C++/games programmer with next to zero web experience. If you want a blog I don't know why you would go with anything but starting with a static site generator and building on top of that.
You're still a C++ developer... A normal mom/dad who simply wants to share his/her latest cookie recipe isn't gonna want to deal with Jekyll.
Don't forget the "less than a weekend" part, either. You know what normals can do in a weekend? Build a backyard fence. Install solar panels on an RV. Drop the engine in that VW and freshen up the top end. Put new tires on three motorcycles, by hand, and balance them; with enough time to ride on Sunday. (All of which I personally have done in less than a weekend.)
And you're saying other people can see pictures of my kids with "only" a weekend's worth of work (assuming one is an experienced developer)? Yeah, thanks, I'll stick with Wordpress.
Re: Show HN: You Don't Need WordPress – Create a Blog With Only Google Docs
#55I don't know why this is attracting so much hate here. It's a novel and useful idea.
Sure, you're relying on Docs, but that's an established, mainline Google service which makes them money through their enterprise work stack (so I doubt it'll get Google Reader'd). If you were using Google's cloud, nobody in the comments would know or care. Sometimes HN is just negative for the sake of being negative.
I think this is a great solution for anyone who wants to throw some articles online without having to muck about with frameworks or the minutiae of managing a blog. Good work, OP!
Re: Show HN: You Don't Need WordPress – Create a Blog With Only Google Docs
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
I never thought I would hear someone call markdown a hurdle to adoption. Maybe I'm more semantically minded, but I have yet to find a markup syntax easier to figure out than markdown, including the rich text editors in Google Docs.
It cannot be emphasized strongly enough that non-technical people see these things completely differently than technical people do. Seen through the eyes of technical people like your average HN reader, Markdown is simple and lightweight. Seen through the eyes of a non-technical person, marking up text in any format (not just Markdown) looks indistinguishable from writing code , which is something they believe deep d…
This is so true. The other day I listened to a project manager rant about how Slack is "like a coding tool" because "you need to put stars for bold". She was really quite upset about it.
Another time a friend of mine, who I wouldn't call non-technical, but isn't a programmer, was collaborating with me on a Github wiki for a project we were working on. I was flabbergasted at the way he would copy-paste and edit the source of pages I'd written just to get bold text instead of typing the asterisks himself. He was just really used to WYSIWYG formatting buttons.
This HN comment[1] provides quite an interesting theory about why Markdown in particular has such a different reception by programmers and non-programmers.
Re: Show HN: You Don't Need WordPress – Create a Blog With Only Google Docs
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
It cannot be emphasized strongly enough that non-technical people see these things completely differently than technical people do. Seen through the eyes of technical people like your average HN reader, Markdown is simple and lightweight. Seen through the eyes of a non-technical person, marking up text in any format (not just Markdown) looks indistinguishable from writing code , which is something they believe deep d…
Normally I would agree but Markdown-esque text annotation has been a feature of many commonly used platforms for years now. A quick search plus my own knowledge tells me the following platforms support it: Facebook Messenger, Skype, Discord, Slack, WhatsApp, Telegram and Reddit posts. It looks like LINE, Viber and Kik Messenger don't support it, but those are the only major ones that don't seem to.
Markdown is supported, but is it required? I know lots of Messenger and Skype users that have never heard of Markdown.
Re: Show HN: You Don't Need WordPress – Create a Blog With Only Google Docs
#58Hey HN, In my opinion, platforms like WordPress can feel bloated or be intimidating to new users. For this reason, I wanted to build a blogging platform on top of Google Docs. I actually run my own blog as a side project, and I use GDocs religiously because of its excellent collaboration and sharing features. When I’m collaborating with dozens of writers, it’s convenient to be able to use a product that everyone is f…
It looks like good fun, but I'll be honest I find the name very insulting. I've had a wordpress website for 8 years. Is this going to work in 8 years? 6 months?
Getting offended over hobby projects, wow, this is a new low for HN.
Re: Show HN: You Don't Need WordPress – Create a Blog With Only Google Docs
#59Please, if you are going to use this setup a new google account. The permissions that this requires is crazy.
Re: Show HN: You Don't Need WordPress – Create a Blog With Only Google Docs
#60This reminded me of https://www.sheet2site.com/ , which lets you make a website using a Google spreadsheet. I think they’re nifty, and although I haven’t had a personal use case for them, I could see building a prototype with them.