I’m going to use @tryghost for my next blog. There is nothing wrong with #WordPress, but I’m digging the simplicity of #ghost
— Justin Braithwaite (@nonameplayer) November 18, 2013That was just over 24 hours ago. I have since spun up a new VPS on Linode, set up Ghost with a reverse proxy from nginx and things are generally working.
There is a lot to like about this new blogging platform: it's ambitious, the interface is best-in-class and it is lightning fast out of the box. That said, it will be a while before it can dethrone the king.
Ghost needs to be much easier to install. One of the reasons WordPress is so ubiquitous is that practicaly every shared hosting environment supports PHP and MySQL. Since Ghost is based on node.js, you have three ways to get it running:
- Self-host — which means you will need ssh access and the ability to install node.js via a CLI.
- Deploy directly to a supported cloud service using an installer.
- Have Ghost host the site for you (currently not available)
Besides installation issues, some of the blogging basics are missing and I have already encountered a few major issues.
The fact that you are reading this blog post—which is currently being servered using Ghost—is evidence of faith in an exciting new blogging platform.
Are your ready to take the plunge?