the bear experience
I’ve been here on bearblog for a bit. Since I write most every day I get a daily sense of what is working for me, what I really like, things which seem not so good.
- What works for me. The basic experience of the site and just using the default theme with a few css things work well for me. I’m not an adept at making things shine. The words are supposed to do that. What I like is the path to developing my daily writing and using whatever editor works at the time. Now I use iA Writer for everything from the blog to the journal.
- What I like. I like the simplicity of the site. Not having to deal with GitHub things. Being able to just use the site and its dashboard. Subscribe to recent community posts. Feel like a part of a thing even when I feel other times like being apart and distinct.
- What doesn’t work well. I really do not like the web editor at all. Especially on mobile. I would like a default full screen experience with few bells. The editor jumps all around when I copy and paste markdown text. I won’t write in the editor on mobile for the same reason. What I would like to see is something mataroa has. The markdown file uploader. This removes the need for some web editor completely. I could write and then when I want add images and the markdown uploader would figure it out.
If there is one thing that will drive me away from bearblog it’s the last thing. I enjoy writing wherever. Coffee shops, buses. On a walk. My editor gives me the writing experience I want but then posting and adding images is less then positive.
So will I leave? Go back to 11ty where the file is the post. Likely not 11ty. I love it but the work with it and my laziness causes issues. Instead over the next week I will see how well bearblog does all the time on mobile since I never travel with my MacBook. If after that I have a general frustration and dislike with how things work, I’ll exercise my choice and perhaps move. I would like to see improvements to the mobile writing experience. A full screen editor with minimal buttons for images or others I could add or delete with configuration options. I doubt a markdown file uploader is in my future with bearblog.
That’s just how I feel now writing this on an iPhone. This part is the usual iA Writer experience. I enjoy having no themes or plugins. No electron experience. No obsidian knobs and buttons and dials.
Let’s see how I do when we go.