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My name is Philipp and you are reading Creativerly, the internet corner where I unpack my musings, curate and write about noteworthy apps and software, and explore the latest trends in design and tech.
Hey and welcome to Creativerly 312 👋The last newsletter I sent out was packed with a lot of HTML character encoding errors, which resulted in some weird aesthetics as I am using emojis as well as glyphs within the newsletter. Since I am self-hosting Ghost, I immediately thought that I broke something, since I recently had to leave my comfort zone and make some changes to Ghost‘s config, as Creativerly got swamped with spam signups. After doing some research Ghost‘s forum, I found out that the issue was on Ghost‘s side and that they pushed an update to address the HTML character encoding errors in the newsletters. However, I found out about a bit too late. So, I could have prevented sending out this funky looking newsletter last week. This is one of the drawbacks I am facing while self-hosting Ghost. While the issue has been quickly resolved for users of Ghost‘s paid plans, I had to figure things out myself. Do not get me wrong, since Ghost quickly provided an update, solving it on my end was quite hassle-free since I simply had to update my Ghost version. But sometimes, I simply do not want to deal with those kind of things. Unfortunately, the paid plans by Ghost are no option for me right now, as I can not justify paying $40 per month (billed annually) for Creativerly. The income I am generating through Creativerly is too irregularly to make that feasible. Nevertheless, there are also other ways to other ways to enjoy Ghost hassle-free. One of them is MagicPages which is a dedicated Ghost CMS hosting service, providing managed email, custom themes, backups on demand, and configuration tools. Plans are starting at €6 per month for 2,000 emails per month. The Pro Plan is available for €16 per month and includes 10,000 emails per month, however, you can always add 10,000 emails more for €5 per month. While this is still expensive, it is cheaper compared to what I would need to pay if I would choose Ghost(Pro). I am always trying to optimize how I am running and operating Creativerly, to make sure it is a sustainable project. Not because it is not worth investing the money, but simply because I the time I put into it to write and curate it, is already a significant investment, so I just want to make sure that I do not have to worry that much about the operational costs, with the goal that Creativerly is financing itself. Not having to fiddle around with Terminal commands to update Ghost or edit its config, would also reduce the time I need to invest to operate Creativerly. So, using a service like MagicPages would allow me to only focus on writing instead of anything else. That indeed sounds tempting. Therefore, I am planning to evaluate my current setup for Creativerly, and get a clear image of the running and operational costs, to figure out whether it would make sense to move Creativerly to a service like MagicPages or not. Obviously, I will keep you all in the loop and share my experiences with you. Other than that, enjoy this week‘s newsletter.
Fresh Updates & NewsThe Iconfactory, known for beloved apps like Wallaroo, Linea Sketch, xScope, or Tot, released its newest lovely piece of software called Tapestry. Tapestry got introduced to the world as ‚Project Tapestry‘ back on January 30, 2024, as The Iconfactory published its Kickstarter campaign to fund the development of the app. Within a week, Project Tapestry reached its funding goal. While some backers received early access to TestFlight builds, people who took not part in the campaign had to wait until recently to get access to Tapestry. Tapestry is an app that allows you to pull all your favorite blogs, social media, and more into a unified and chronological timeline. By connecting your favorite social media services like Bluesky or Mastodon, as well as RSS feeds, podcasts, YouTube channels, and more, Tapestry combines all those posts and presents it in a chronological order without any algorithm deciding what you should or shouldn’t see. While browsing through your timeline in Tapestry, no server is tracking what you are loading, no third-parties are watching you, it is totally private. This already sets Tapestry apart from traditional third-party clients to consume social media or any other feeds. What makes it even more powerful is how it allows you to create rules that control what you do and don‘t see across all of your feeds, so you can avoid potential spoilers, stay clear of unwanted topics, and more by creating muffle and mutes rules that apply across every feed you follow. Besides that, Tapestry has a feature called ‚Connectors‘. Those built-in connectors automatically work with tons of your favorite sources. But, you can even add third-party connectors to Tapestry to allow it to work with even more sources. Tapestry is available as a universal app with native support for both iOS and iPadOS, it syncs your reading position across all your devices, allows you to customize its app icon, layout, and font, mark items and come back later to them, and a lot more. You can download Tapestry for free, additional features are available with a paid subscription. To get more insights into how Tapestry became what it is today, you can check out the ‚Enter Tapestry‘ blog post, written by Craig Hockenberry. Apple introduced a new app called Apple Invites which allows iPhone users to create custom invitations to gather family and friends for any occasion. Users can create and share invitations, RSVP, contribute to Shared Albums, and engage with Apple Music playlists. You can download the app from the App Store or access it on the web through iCloud.com/invites. If you are a subscriber of iCloud+, you can create invitations, and anyone can RSVP, regardless of whether they have an Apple Account or Apple device. To me, it is always exciting to see a new app coming directly from Apple, as it always provides a fresh glimpse into new design patterns. So, it acts as an inspirational layer too. With every single release, Zen Browser is getting closer to becoming what I initially enjoyed about Arc. And while it is beautifully designed, Zen Browser went the extra mile to make sure it is privacy-focused too. I haven‘t yet spent that much time with Zen Browser, mainly because I am not in the mood right now to potentially switch my main browser again. Nevertheless, I am planning to set some time aside to test the beta of Zen Browser thoroughly and gather my thoughts and notes in a deep dive. Bundlehunt's new year bundle just went live and includes popular and powerful apps like BusyContacts, BusyCal, Commander One Pro, Textsniper, DisplayBuddy, and a lot more, all at a big discount. BusyCal is one of the most powerful and customizable calendar apps available for iOS and macOS. Usually, its extensive feature-set of calendar sets, smart tags, favorite time zones, conference calls, travel time, and more would cost you $49.99. However, thanks to Bundlehunt you can now grab it for just $6.99, which is a lovely discount for an incredibly powerful app. If you want a similar powerful experience for your contact management, you can also grab BusyContacts (from the same makers) for $6.99 instead of $49.99 too. But that is not it, as this new year bundle also includes Commander One Pro, a popular FTP client for macOS, for $6 instead of $29.99, Textsniper, a lovely macOS app to instantly capture non-selectable text from YouTube videos, PDFs, images, online courses, screencasts, presentations, webpages, video tutorials, photos, etc., for just $2.50 instead of $7.99, and 36 other apps, all available at a big discount. You can either just grab a single app, or create your own app bundle but selecting a bunch more. If you are spending $30 in total, you can enjoy yet another discount of $3.
Mental Wealth❯ The Great Social Media Diaspora – “For the past two decades, most online discourse has occurred on a handful of social media platforms. Their dominion seemed unshakeable. The question wasn’t when a challenger to Twitter or Facebook might arrive but if one could ever do so successfully. Could a killer new app, or perhaps the cudgel of antitrust, make a difference?” ❯ Beyond the traditional portfolio – “Since my debut in creating and publishing content on the internet 15 years ago, I’ve seen the following schema so many times: a designer is looking for a job and has to come up with a selection of projects to demonstrate their abilities in doing great work, and hopefully, being hired by the company.” ❯ Software Should Feel Like Magic – “It may seem strange to argue that software should feel like magic when it has been akin to magic all along. We’ve conjured alternate universes and sentient algorithms out of literal sand. That’s magic in every sense of the word.” ❯ How to feel like you have enough – “You’re showing your work, you’re getting out there, and you’ve had some success. Maybe you’ve made some sales and gotten some recognition, but you can’t help feeling that you’re still behind. Everyone else seems to have more — followers, opportunities, time. They seem to have it all figured out. It’s starting to feel like there will never be enough money, connections, or recognition to give you the stability and success you’re looking for as an artist.”
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Appendix❯ ICYMI In my newest post for Creativerly, I wrote down my thoughts on why online writing often loses its personal touch in favor of polished prose, and why crafting engaging content that feels relatable and memorable – without sacrificing your unique perspective, matters most. Check out ‚Approach writing in public as conversation instead of a performance‘.
❯ Quick Bits
Till next time! 👋 Support: Do you have a friend who is looking for inspiration, news about design, and useful tools and apps? Forward this newsletter to a friend or simply share this issue and show some support. You can also show some love by simply clicking the button down below and keep this newsletter a sustainable side-project by buying me a coffee. ☕️ 🥰
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