The blog editor only allows formating via html tags. You can type in easier ones, but a time saver can be an extension for your browser that natively supports markup languages.
Found one, I have used a similar in the past for Forums, with BBcode tag formatting.
@rgx Tested and works as expected, the barebones first post is getting prettier. I like it, edit and saves are very fast.
Now, if I can reduce the number of TABS open here... That would greatly help. 😜
testing different write.freely instances
Experimenting is needed, not all places offering blog hosting have the same features.
write.as which has a nice video, showing easy fediverse connections, also has a lot of limitations for Free accounts.
The Fediverse instances list for write.freely can be useful -- Although a lot of them are NOT open to registrations, check the rightmost column.
https://fediverse.network/writefreely
From that page, I looked at a couple of instances, there's one in Canada: https://fediverse.network/personaljournal.ca
...and settled in another one, located in France, under better European Union privacy protection rules. https://fediverse.network/write.tedomum.net
This last one, I created a new blog, copied my test post, and did the searching for the account here in Mastodon.
It did work, the account was found. After I published the page there, it showed here as a Toot, which I can click to view (has link to web page hosting) and reply with comments to.
@rgx@write.tedomum.net is my current testing page. Click on the username and it will show a typical Mastodon user page, with stats and toots listed.
testing different write.freely instances
@design_RG @rgx@wordsmith.social @rgx@write.tedomum.net
I really like this content! Thanks for sharing.
testing different write.freely instances
Ah, I am glad to know. Was feeling like I was spamming the feed a bit, but needed the testing. Getting there now, I got one that works.
Will post a more polished version when I get it all working.
testing different write.freely instances
@teknonomicon
A little side trip, have been looking at finding a decent image hosting service. I did use those in the past, when I was very active in Forums, and had a good experience.
EXCEPT - when they change terms of service, want to charge now, or simply disappear all together.
The last happened with a site I used a lot, since it was simple and reliable; until it wasn't.
Thye were gone, and all the images posted in hundreds of forum posts were also gone from them. The addresses on them no longer worked, a major pain.
Frustrating. So went looking again, and it's a mixed bag those days. I don't want to use a Google photos space because of tracking. Prefer a site that is not too small, but not Big Tech.
A decent one that gives me proper, full image URL to use in blog post is https://postimage.org
They have free service, show full urls, and seem decent. Will they be around for the long run? Unknown, but at the moment that might do.
Screenshot below shows the image data info with various formats - for forum use, or full url to use in html coding.
@rgx@wordsmith.social @rgx@write.tedomum.net