Say hello to Replica. Blogging platforms have been so busy trying to copy each other, there really haven’t been any other platforms that really fit what I needed. It borrows features from other platforms, and leaves out the ones I don’t need. At it’s heart, is a simple dashboard for creating and editing posts, built on top of Django web framework and written in Python. Anything can easily be edited. But what really makes Replica stick out above others? Lets take a look at some of the features I consider to be unique.

Design

Design has always been extremely important to me when building a new blog. With WordPress, it has become annoying to create new themes with creating complex loops and queries. With Replica, all of that has been split up between views and templates. Posts and pages can all have their own unique designs or share layouts. Design aspects like HTML and CSS can be designed per post easily, or shared among all.

Version Control

I love git. I love being able to fork, merge, etc. So, I brought its functionality into Replica. Anytime content is edited, a new version is created. Content can be forked, allowing multiple users to edit and built upon each other’s work. Users can compare revisions and choose the one to be published.

It’s Just Simple.

Replica is designed for a single blogger, or multiple users. It can easily be used as a content management system or a blogging platform seamlessly. Only the features you need are displayed in the dashboard. Users don’t need to worry about extra buttons to click, a WYSIWYG editor adding unneeded markup, or any extra fluff. All content can be published in one of three ways- in raw HTML, Markdown, or Textile markup. Content is then rendered and displayed to viewers. All content can even be viewed naturally by editors and admins before it’s published.

Replica is currently in private testing. It’s stable and mostly works. I’ve been using it on clients’ websites and my own for quite some time, but I’m still working on some of the key functionality. An early version is currently available on Github, with a new release aimed at the end of Summer.

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