^Updated 2015-02-05; first published 2014-12-22; feedback welcome.[1]^
I’m experimenting with using GitHub Gist as a home for my writing. This seems to be a good solution for me because:
-
I can write in AsciiDoc, GitHub Flavored Markdown (GFM), HTML, or any markup language that GitHub supports. I’m currently using AsciiDoc because it’s lightweight and supports footnotes, tables, mathematics, and more.
-
I can edit my posts on the GitHub web site or in any editor that supports the markup language I’m writing in.
-
I can easily include emojis in my articles because GitHub supports hundreds of emoji shortcut codes.:clap:
-
I can manage my gists on my local device using a stand-alone Gist client such as Gisto, an Atom package such as glist, or a Brackets extension such as grist-manager.
-
Gist supports commenting so I don’t need to use Disqus, IntenseDebate, or some other third-party commenting system. Commenters on gists need to have a GitHub account, which, I hope, will help weed out the creeps.
-
It requires no set up and maintenance so I can focus on writing. In other words, I won’t spend a bunch of time fiddling with the layout and design of my nancym Gists page because, as far as I know, I can’t fiddle with the layout and design of my Gists page.
-
I can include any gist in any site that supports JavaScript by using the "Embed URL" JavaScript code of the gist. For example, I’ve included this gist in this nancym.tumblr.com post and this alefsym.tumblr.com post.
What do you think? Will you read and comment on my Gist-based blog posts? Your comment is welcome, even if it’s only to say "Hi!"