6 months ago I came across a concept article written about by John O’Nolan (web designer and former deputy head of the WordPress User Interface group) that grabbed my attention (and the attention of many others). In the article John dreamed of a new blogging platform – Ghost.
In the article John spoke about the changes in WordPress over the year that have seen it evolve from a humble and relatively simple blogging platform into something a lot bigger and more complex – a content management system.
While the evolution of WordPress has been wonderful for many – John pointed out that its complexities and clutter has gotten in the way of him just publishing great blog posts.
John went on to describe a fictional and idealistic blogging platform – Ghost. You can read his initial post here.
At the time of writing that article Ghost was just an idea – but due to the overwhelming response John received it is fast becoming a reality – particularly in the last 24 hours with the launch of a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds to see it completed.
11 hours and 56 minutes after the Kickstarter campaign launched it was funded (you can still join in for the next 28 days).
Check out this video in which John shares the vision:
It has been fascinating to watch the reaction to Ghost – with people particularly been drawn to the idea of a simply, elegantly designed and useful interface.
There’s still a lot to be revealed about Ghost and we’ll not really know all the details until it’s released later in the year but the current Kickstarter program gives you options to jump in early and see what it is all about – or if you want to contribute more to partner with the Ghost team.
I’m really excited to see this developed and so have accepted an invitation from John to be on the Ghost advisory board. Others on the board include Vitaly Friedman of Smashing Magazine, and Frederick Townes – Founding CTO of Mashable.
Oh – last of all, this is a non-profit project with it being developed for the love of blogging rather than to make its developers rich. Profits will be reinvested back into making the platform better.
UPDATE: as the initial funding goal has been met so easily – John has shared plans of a ‘stretch goal’ and what that will mean for backers here.
Great discovery Darren, I am looking forward to giving it a try. I agree that WordPress has recently evolved quite a bit but business has forced it into that change.
I am curious to see what’s the potential of this new platform and if it can stick to the idea of just blogging over time.
I’m liking the simple to the point approaches that blogging platforms are taking. Medium is another example. The less distracting the online content is, the better.
Speaking of which, as I am typing out this comment in my mobile phone there is a very distracting animation playing on the top of my screen. I can’t turn it off and I have no interest in the job board or the eBook store. As for the email list, I’m already on it!
Its incredibly hard to read something when someone is dangling an object in front of your upper peripheral view.
I suppose the next step in making the web more simple is a mobile browser that strips websites of “extras”. Pictures links and words is all I need. There’s enough marketing in the world, let’s keep the web as distraction free as we can. This can still be profitable; look at Craigslist.
This looks and sounds great, I might just back it. Thanks for the heads up.
Looks really good and interesting. Though this will be tough for bloggers who have been on WordPress for so long with powerful plugins. Would be cool for new ones though as I wouldn’t call WordPress simple to use for everyone
Hi guys, I love the concept of a platform built only for blogging. They make a great point when it comes to WordPress they are evolving and it’s no longer “only about blogging”. Also in my opinion it’s refreshing to see some competition within the blogosphere for actual blog software scripts. I’m open to the concept and love the fact the program is also open source. I may try and install this for testing to see how fluid it really is.
Way to go!
> developed for the love of blogging rather than to make its developers rich.
There’s always magic when it’s a true passion play.
The markdown of the left preview on the right functionality is really cool. Someone should create a plugin to do that in WordPress.
This looks very interesting.
I am interested in the dash board, etc…
As a web designer for small businesses, I am interested in how I could potentially combine the two, WordPress and ghost, so that potentially small businesses would find it easier to blog.
Will watch that space.
One more platform to explore. Am sure it would be fun to invest time there.
Darren, I’m not sure if you’ve heard of it yet, but you’ve got to check out SETT. It’s a new blogging platform Tynan recently released and it’s definitely worth a mention. I hate to be the guy that says come check out my blog, but you can see an example of a SETT blog on my website.
His platform his designed around community interaction, and it’s been a pleasure to use for the past few months. It’s still very much in the developmental phase, but as a “pro blogger” you’d be foolish not to check it out.
Great to see this moved from idea to concept so quickly! WordPress is definitely getting clunky and the key with something like Ghost is, of course, how it works on mobile. As long as this can be cracked, I’m in.
Another great platform to wait for. Good luck!
Sounds amazing and very user friendly. Hope it remains free as it claims. Like the name as well :)
Looks very user friendly….may want to consider it.
Interesting stuff… keep the updates coming.
Sounds like it’ll be an interesting venture, Darren. Do keep us informed on your progress with it! :-)
It looks pretty good, hope it is works as good as it sounds.
I think this is great because of the simplicity. I’m down with WordPress but I do always feel like I’m searching for plugins and ways to add stuff and never really focusing hard enough on the content, which is why we blog in the first place. This would be a great platform to release my writings on, especially the mobile. I’ve never backed a Kickstarter before but I might start with this one :)
In the video the developer says that it is free and nonProfit site. But when I tried to sign up it says me to pay some!!! Why?
hi Darren,
it is very interesting.WordPress and ghost, so that potentially small businesses would find it easier to blog.
Thanks for posting this info. I just want to let you know that I just check out your site and I find it very interesting and informative. I can’t wait to read lots of your posts. I have a blog also, You can find it at Movers in Santa Clara
As soon as I have read about it I have jumped into it and backed it.
Now it is funded, and I am really looking forward to see it working. Actually I am thinking about something to blog about in order to start a WP blog now, and migrate to Ghost as soon as it becomes available.
I like it!
It’s great to see a new blog platform. I have been looking to an alternative resource to wordpress. It’s crossover into business websites has been interesting. The issue has been mostly the “update button” aspect, and level of client editing, programming/html skill level.
I’m working on a new Website Content Management System, so maybe we can see how well they work together. Still only at 80% but will have to try out Kickstarter when ready.
Wow, incredible blog layout! How long have you been blogging
for? you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your web site is
magnificent, let alone the content!