Svbtlety ⇥

Dustin Curtis introduced Svbtle last week as an antidote to the “complexity and uninspiring nature of most blogging platforms”, and it generated a fair bit of buzz. He showed off the user interface, noting its simplicity and elegance, with the concept of ideas instead of drafts.

Gravity on Mars has now released their own interpretation of the platform for WordPress, available on GitHub:

When I read about Svbtle just seemed to me to write great enter without stop from view. Having a list where these ideas “cooking” and another where the already published is just great. [sic]

But in an interview with TechCrunch, Curtis clarifies that it isn’t just a platform:

Until I feel the design and workflows are good enough for a wide release, I’m working on building a private network of extremely well-vetted bloggers. I’m running it with more of a newspaper model than a blogging platform model; I plan to offer copy-editing and other benefits to help improve the writing of members on the Network, for example.

Akin to Read & Trust, the Svbtle Network is a group of writers that are all producing great content. The difference is that the latter also includes a consistent style. You know when you’re on the site of a Svbtle writer. Now, a small amount of that familiarity is lost with the copycat styles.

Make no mistake: I’m intrigued by the platform, and would love to use it. But I’d hesitate to even install the backend theme for my copy of WordPress. It would feel as uncomfortable as using the custom platforms of Ars Technica or Engadget to write my own blog. Svbtle is a total package, not just a platform.