Viewing EverWeb Blogging Updates

EverWeb Blogging Updates



User: Paul-RAGESW 8 years ago
We know that many users are eagerly awaiting a blogging feature within EverWeb. We also know that the current solution is not the right solution and we're working to create something much better.

Because we are making EverWeb for you we want to be opened on our plans but without making promises that may disappoint users because of missed deadlines.

I do realize that we have failed in delivering a proper blogging platform in a timely manner and I wanted to discuss what we are working on and our goals.

Just to clarify one thing. We want a blogging platform just as bad as everyone else does. The challenge is getting it right.

When we first started making EverWeb we wanted to create an all in one package so that users didn't have to worry about technical details like publishing, FTP etc... We wanted to make EverWeb affordable while providing great customer support. By creating an all-in-one solution we'd be able to fix issues in all parts of the web building process including designing your site, publishing, email problems and domain renewals. Spotting problems is easy this way because we have access to the whole system, rather than guessing what the issues may be.

A big challenge with customer support is helping people who are using EverWeb, publishing to a third party web hosting provider and using even another company to register their domain. We have to work with 3 different companies (sometimes 4 when a user has email with a 4th company) to fix many issues. This makes support slower and more expensive since our support reps need to be trained for all possible scenarios.

It also adds more work in making sure features work with not just our web hosting, but third party web hosts as well.

This is a big issue with the blogging platform. If we want to support third party web hosts we have to remove certain features that would make for a great blogging experience that we just wouldn't be able to support on the thousands of third party web hosting providers. On our servers we can set them up to support some really great features. We can also make the blogging platform more secure, faster and more efficient by tying in the server with the EverWeb software. We can do all this without requiring any set up at all.

So the big challenge with the blog is doing it properly in a way that will work nicely with third party web hosting providers while also providing the advanced features we want to be able to provide on our own servers.

Our goal is to have a blogging platform that matches iWeb's for all third party web hosting providers while the one on for EverWeb + Hosting would be able to take advantage of the fact that we can create custom scripts that can communicate with EverWeb and provide a better experience for you and your website visitors.

It is certainly a real challenge and we've taken a lot of different approaches to the problem.

So where are we with blogging?

We have a system that closely resembles iWeb's but still requires more testing and features. The most important one being a searching feature which we are currently working on. We are also working on a custom solution for EverWeb + Hosting customers that provides more features.

Why don't we just release the platform that works like iWeb's and then update to the newer platform later?

When we do this we would have to create a migration script as well. It may or may not be too difficult but certainly adds more complexities to the entire development platform and because we're not finished the newer system it is uncertain if it would actually be 100% possible without creating any issues. We still may go this route depending on how development of the newer platform goes in the coming weeks. We don't want to provide one interface for EverWeb Standalone and one for EverWeb + Hosting as well. We want to make sure the experience is good.

Wait, are you treating EverWeb Standalone customer as second class citizens?

Our development would be much quicker and support would be much more efficient if all our users brought their entire web site experience under one company. We certainly understand though that for many users this is not an option so we want to support as many people as we can. We will do everything we can to provide the best experience to both EverWeb Standalone and EverWeb + Hosting customers but instead of thinking that we are limiting features for EverWeb Standalone users, we are actually able to enhance features for EverWeb + Hosting users because we control both the software and the server.

Our goal again is to match the features of iWeb's blogging platform for EverWeb + Standalone users while providing enhanced server side features for EverWeb + Hosting customers.

What are these enhanced features for EverWeb + Hosting customers?

We don't want to over promise and under deliver at this time. So please stay tuned for more announcements. I can say that our goal is to remove all technical hurdles and a seamless blogging platform that is extremely easy to use.


Again, I want to apologize for the delay. We are working very hard on this though and we want to get it right. We feel as though we cannot apologize enough for the delay but the only thing we can do now is promise to work hard on getting the right solutions to you as quickly as possible.

Thank you for your time,

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Paul
EverWeb Developer
User: George P. 8 years ago
Well a big way to actually minimize your support headaches on the blogging aspect is to drop the backend blogging engine onto GitHub and tell people that they can use it at their own expense as far as support goes. Let the community actually support the server side and you just drop code in that works on your server and will allow us to choose whether to make it work or not on our own server hosting. I realize that this has some business model ramifications for you, but if support is truly the most important issue (which I suspect it may not be), this could really help to ameliorate most of the problem. You then will be able maximize the system to perform to the level that you desire while also putting the support responsibility off onto the community.

You could also have the "light" blogging functionality that you suggest as well that matches iWeb for those who simply want to use the system as is w/o wiring anything up on the server.

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Custom application and web developer. Specializing in Ruby on Rails, WordPress, and any other framework ranging from Ruby and PHP to java script (NodeJS; Meteor, Opal, etc.).
User: James G. 8 years ago
I am not waiting for the blog feature, but have to say Paul, that was a great explanation.

As far as GitHub goes, I seriously doubt many here have even heard of it, let alone would want to utilize it.
User: Steve 8 years ago
2nd Class Citizens...

I believe iWebs blogging only worked when using Apple's server. Sounds like EverWeb is trying to make it work for everybody! : )
Thank you Paul for the update... Maybe you can upload a video of the blogging feature soon maybe in it's (alpha state)!

Thx
Steve

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MacBook Pro 15in Retina 10.14.6
Nevada, U.S.A
Apple since OS 7.1 LE II (pizza box)
User: Chris B. 8 years ago
Hi Paul,

Any update on this feature yet?
User: Paul-RAGESW 8 years ago
Sorry, not yet.

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Paul
EverWeb Developer
User: Mike B. 8 years ago
This feature was being worked on when I bought Everweb standalone more than 2 years ago. It was the missing feature from iWeb that I most needed for our village website. I made the jump to Everweb (Easyweb) because I was made to believe the blogging feature wouldn't be that far off. Since the feature has yet to be released as at version 1.9.5 I have had to renew my standalone version to ensure I get the originally promised blogging feature. I appreciate the challenges presented and hard work put in by Paul and others. However because of the way the feature was positioned when I made my original purchase I believe the Blogging feature should be offered to standalone owners free of charge?
User: Chris B. 8 years ago
I wouldn't hold your breath Mike!
I'm in the same boat as you I didn't renew my standalone and will not renew until this feature appears.
I doubt it will be any time soon either to be honest its been rumbling on for a long time now.

Chris
User: Chris B. 8 years ago
I wouldn't hold your breath Mike!
I'm in the same boat as you I didn't renew my standalone and will not renew until this feature appears.
I doubt it will be any time soon either to be honest its been rumbling on for a long time now.

Chris
User: Lucas A. 8 years ago
I'm with you, I'm not renewing until the blog feature is released. I thought it was going to be soon after I originally bought the program (a year ago), otherwise I would have stuck with iWeb. I was an original beta-tester for this program, and I had put off buying the actual program for years after it was released because it didn't have blogging. (And I didn't want to incorporate a Blogger or Wordpress blog - too inconvenient.)
User: Chris B. 8 years ago
It annoys me more that you never get a straight answer to this, you simply get the party line that its being looked at with no timeline.
No reports on what they are doing or asking the community for feedback, thoughts or updates on development progress etc.
I have even questioned if this is really in development? its gone on so long now!

It will be a sad day if they launch the next major update without a blogging feature this would certainly force me to look at an alternative solution as I'm sure many others would also.
Don't get me wrong I really like the software I think its great but jeez guys get your act together before its too late!

Chris
User: Paul-RAGESW 8 years ago
Quote:
It will be a sad day if they launch the next major update without a blogging feature this would certainly force me to look at an alternative solution as I'm sure many others would also.


The reason we don't provide a concrete timeline is that there are so many variables that affect the implementation.

Now keep in mind, we can either delay any future updates until the blog is released, or release it when it is ready so whether or not a major upgrade is released without the blogging feature doesn't mean we are not working on it.

Again, we are working hard on it and will announce more details when they are ready.

I do apologize for the delay but we are making progress.

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Paul
EverWeb Developer
User: Roland S. 7 years ago
Hi,

Last post was 4 months and the first 1 year, so?
User: Paul-RAGESW 7 years ago
There is an updated post here about EverWeb 2.0 and the blogging feature! Check it out!

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Paul
EverWeb Developer
User: Paul-RAGESW 7 years ago
There is an updated post here about EverWeb 2.0 and the blogging feature! Check it out!

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Paul
EverWeb Developer


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