Overview
Each platform strives to provide its best and each has its pros and cons. Some are simple technical issues - like the Markdown editor of CoderLegion, some are serious design flaws (like there is no way to manage brushes in Affinity Photo).
Today I was going to comb my thoughts and write something on Dev.to and was shocked so see this.
This ugly new feature is driving me mad.
Distracting Side Bar
It's one of the things I don't like about Discord/Slack. The interface is so clustered with irrelevant things or buttons that I rarely click on or need. And there are too many colors.
Now Dev.to is completely ruining the used-to-be quiet and focused writing experience. Just look at the screenshot below:
It's honestly so annoying I can't bear staying on this site any second longer. What's worse, because of this total distraction, I almost forgot what I was about to write.
Alternatives
I would love to officially moving to CoderLegion for canonical Dev Logs, but the image uploading experience is also not smooth. So that's a dilemma.
We have the official Methodox Blog on WordPress. For those who aren't familiar with its content management system - it requires uploading images to the blog server for every single thing you display (or else use plugins) and is really inconvenient if one just want to share quick screenshots.
Medium is actually great writing experience, but its design feels more suited for literature work than for tech.
Ideal Scenario
Here I propose a concept "QuietSpace" for distraction-free blogging.
Key ideas:
- Medium style editing interface
- Dev.to style Markdown and easy image uploading through dropping and pasting, single button Preview
- CDN for blog contents
- GitHub style support for video and YouTube embedding.
Key formatting elements:
- Fully support tables (a issue in both CoderLegion and Medium)
- Fully support images gifs and videos (through CDN link) (an issue in Dev.to)
Web editor, optional desktop editor. No dedicated subdomain: url path for user. No ads, central explore and save articles. May even be paid writing experience at $5 per month. Easy sharing, simple commenting.
Used for: DevLog.
Derivation: dedicated blog-style web hosting, like the simplest form of Word Press.
Summary
There are many blogging and posting platforms and each has distinct features. As a developer we seek a balance between publicity, platform friendliness and technical satisfaction. I think the best platform has to be customized for custom needs. While generic customizable frameworks exist, the customization process right now still take too much tweaking. Will AI solve this problem? I doubt it, as I see missing pieces in basic infrastructure that's not easily addressed with smart agents.
Follow Up
I was writing this post bearing in mind I have to suffer the new UI update of Dev.to - life felt truly like a compromise.
However, the dev team addressed the issue within an hour! I didn't even expect them to notice my post. Salute To Dev.To Dev Team! See discussion on the post on Dev.to.
