I’ve been noodling around trying to figure out the most effective way to write and publish onto this Blot-powered page, especially from iOS, but also recognising that I do also use macOS.

This is theoretically easy, since Blot just needs a file to exist in a Dropbox folder. Where I’ve found some problems, though, is in the production of link blog posts. Recent experimentation on my other blog using MarsEdit and its lovely Safari extension for the creation of link posts has made me more frustrated with my current workflow for link posts here on Blot.

While a work in progress, this is the process I have developed to ‘simplify’ publishing a link post:

  1. Write the file in Notebooks app. Invoke a TextExpander .link shortcut to prepare the file metadata and paste the contents of a clipboard (that would contain the URL of the page to be shared) into a prepared Markdownified URL.
  2. Rename the automatically generated filename to one suitable name for Dropbox. Consider use of TextExpander .ds shortcut.
  3. Copy and paste/drag and drop quoted content from original webpage.
  4. Add additional commentary.
  5. Invoke the share sheet and select a Siri Shortcut.
  6. Choose the Blot Post shortcut.
  7. Select where within my Dropbox Blot structure to save the file.

Not as seamless as a Safari extension, but probably easier than what I’ve been doing to date. If anybody can suggest improvements, I’m all ears.