# What do you think of Ghost (blogging platform)



## raindog308 (Jan 28, 2014)

Someone mentioned Ghost to me and I checked out their site.  It's "just blogging" and looks slick.  

There's a video here:  https://ghost.org/features/

The owner/founder looks like kind of a goof to me and I didn't like his presentation:


He says blogs are revolutionary and empowering and have changed the world, then turns around in the next sentence and says that they're all full of "cats and porn" and Wordpress has outlived its usefulness as a blogging platform.  Those things are contradictory.  I think he could just say "Wordpress is huge/bloated" or "we want to take a different approach".  His "Wordpress is no longer good for blogging" attitude is silly.
He seems to really believe in the "blogs are the shining future of journalism stuff" while I...well, don't.
If it's developed for love, you don't need money/kickstarting.
However, my personal reaction to the video aside, I do like the idea of the editing interface: markdown on the left, real-time render on the right.  It runs on Node.js which is interesting.

Has anyone used it?


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## jarland (Jan 28, 2014)

I'm told it's terrible under load but I think it's cool as hell.


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## SrsX (Jan 28, 2014)

Cats & Porn. He's got a fact.


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## juan (Jan 28, 2014)

The process of setting it up still needs improvement... or maybe its just me and FreeBSD. But yeah it looks really cool.


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## eva2000 (Jan 28, 2014)

Been using Ghost since mid-end of October 2013 and liking it so far especially the Markdown+side by side live preview editor. My Ghost blog at http://ghost.centminmod.com/.


I aggregated all Ghost community info/threads and news at http://ghost.centminmod.com/ghostinfo/ as well - updates every ~10 minutes.
And tracking Ghost Themes stats at ThemeForest for top 50 sold themes along with how Ghost Themes are stacking up against other blogging/cms themes i.e. Wordpress etc http://ghost.centminmod.com/themeforest/.
Started a Ghost Magazine on Flipboard too http://ghost.centminmod.com/ghost-blog-magazine-2013-flipboard/

Compiled alot of how to install Ghost guides at http://ghost.centminmod.com/how-to-install-ghost-blogging-platform/
Compiled alot of Ghost Themes, customisations and hacks at http://ghost.centminmod.com/ghost-themes/ i.e. adding Disqus comments http://ghost.centminmod.com/ghost-posts-with-faster-disqus-load-speed/
Nginx with proxy_cache in front of Ghost node.js instance is how I set it up on my Centmin Mod web stack (Nginx/PHP-FPM/MariaDB MySQL) http://ghost.centminmod.com/ghost-nginx-proxy-load-testing/

HTH


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## GIANT_CRAB (Jan 29, 2014)

wordpress is the revolutionary blog software that made everyone use PHP


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## k0nsl (Jan 29, 2014)

I've tried Ghost and it was a pleasant experience all-around, but I found the interface almost too lacking. It may have changed during the latest release (although that one was only a minor release). But yeah. I liked it.

I don't write very long articles, texts, or responses, any longer, so it isn't a platform for me right now. Perhaps later on, when I find my way back to writing again..

I would certainly recommend Ghost, though. It will more than likely become a good platform


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## tchen (Jan 29, 2014)

You can try it real quick on Azure.  They have a 30-day trial and one of the website templates is a Ghost setup.  Can't say I went too deep into it but I can't say I liked it much given my on-again, off-again relationship with markdown.  It feels like it'd be one of those things only you can fully decide by trying it yourself.


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## shinehost (Jan 29, 2014)

It looks good. and slick. but still i had a user, he really had a problems, then he changed to

wordpress.


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## NodeWest-Dan (Jan 29, 2014)

It's nice for content and quick blogging. But I missed all the plugins and stuff I can do with wordpress.


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## raindog308 (Jan 29, 2014)

NodeWest-Dan said:


> It's nice for content and quick blogging. But I missed all the plugins and stuff I can do with wordpress.


I think if you want to do simple blogging with Wordpress, you certainly can.  You can add on other stuff if you want/need it.

The argument that Wordpress is not a good blogging platform (or has somehow grown out of being a good blogging platform) does not make sense to me.


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## NodeWest-Dan (Jan 29, 2014)

raindog308 said:


> I think if you want to do simple blogging with Wordpress, you certainly can. You can add on other stuff if you want/need it.
> 
> The argument that Wordpress is not a good blogging platform (or has somehow grown out of being a good blogging platform) does not make sense to me.


Agreed. You can make wordpress do exactly what ghost does and look the same. Performance and load times can also be quick with optimization


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## WelltodoInformalCattle (Jan 29, 2014)

I have given it a shot and to be honest as refreshing as it is as a means for blogging, it seems to be a pain in the ass to use it.


It has a lot of potential but they need to make simple functions less of a chore. Then again, the problem might lie in me wanting to use it for more than a simple blog.


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## peterw (Jan 30, 2014)

I like wordpress because there are tons of tools, editors and clients for all systems. Everyone can use wordpress. There are hosted service offers and you can migrate to your own hosted site. You can run wordpress on every hosting account without special requirements.

Ghost is quite the opposite. It has a lot of requirements to run it. If you use Nodejitsu or Heroku you will loose files because their nodejs stack is not compatible. You have to install forever and supervisor too. And there is no automatic upgrader.

Positives:


fresh, new, shiny, nerdy node.js hipster
Negatives:


Pain to install
Pain to run
Pain to upgrade
Pain to use


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## sv01 (Jan 30, 2014)

I'll not use them in production, before Dashboard come true


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## mojeda (Feb 4, 2014)

I think it's good for a tumblr-esque blog/website if you don't want to use tumblr itself. A lot of themes already make it pretty much the same.


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## Minmeo (Feb 5, 2014)

I think it looks clean but do not know why node.js should be used over PHP or if it matters. Never used it before so it is not clear to me.


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## fixidixi (Feb 6, 2014)

@minmeo:

look up what is nodejs exactly then you'll see why they r using it instead of php.

also its an interesting fact that the "author" of ghost is an interface designer of wordpress. one sole reason could be that he wouldnt like to compete with his current workplace. my opinion is that his goal is different with his project than automattic's with wordpress..


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## howardsl2 (Feb 6, 2014)

I wrote up a detailed guide for installing Ghost 0.4.1 (just released) with Nginx and the Naxsi web application firewall. You may have already seen it on "the other board". Below is the link:

https://blog.ls20.com/install-ghost-0-4-with-nginx-and-naxsi-on-ubuntu/


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