DropBox to Blog
October 28, 2013 12:07 AM Subscribe
I'm looking for an app that allows me to copy any file to a DropBox folder and have that file posted as a blog post.
For instance, ideally I'd like to create a text document and then, say, save it to /Dropbox/Apps/AwesomeBloggingApp/hello-world.txt. The app would then turn the contents of that file into a blog post. Similarly if I drag in a photo, a blog post will be created with the single photo as its content. Ideally there'd be no more steps after dropping the file into the specified folder. Drop-and-forget in other words.
I've tried http://scriptogr.am/ but it seems like they only support .md files -- I'd like to drag in pretty much any content file under the sun (.txt, .doc, .png, .jpg, .mov, etc.)
I've tried a couple of IFTTT "recipes" but they seem a bit too fiddly. Plus I haven't found one that does more than one content type (text, images, movies, etc.).
If anyone has any suggestions, would warmly be welcomed -- there's probably an app that I've overlooked sitting right in front of me.
For instance, ideally I'd like to create a text document and then, say, save it to /Dropbox/Apps/AwesomeBloggingApp/hello-world.txt. The app would then turn the contents of that file into a blog post. Similarly if I drag in a photo, a blog post will be created with the single photo as its content. Ideally there'd be no more steps after dropping the file into the specified folder. Drop-and-forget in other words.
I've tried http://scriptogr.am/ but it seems like they only support .md files -- I'd like to drag in pretty much any content file under the sun (.txt, .doc, .png, .jpg, .mov, etc.)
I've tried a couple of IFTTT "recipes" but they seem a bit too fiddly. Plus I haven't found one that does more than one content type (text, images, movies, etc.).
If anyone has any suggestions, would warmly be welcomed -- there's probably an app that I've overlooked sitting right in front of me.
Unless I am misunderstanding what you are looking for, you already have that functionality built-into the "public" folder. Whatever file you put in the "public" folder or any folder under that, is accessible online. So for example, you could set it up this way:
1. Create a folder named "mywebsite.com" in "public".
2. Optional: if you don't like those long Dropbox links, register a domain for about $10 per year (I like name.com) and point it to this folder (whatever the long Dropbox link happens to be), then create an index.html file with links to your other stuff.
posted by rada at 10:55 AM on October 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
1. Create a folder named "mywebsite.com" in "public".
2. Optional: if you don't like those long Dropbox links, register a domain for about $10 per year (I like name.com) and point it to this folder (whatever the long Dropbox link happens to be), then create an index.html file with links to your other stuff.
posted by rada at 10:55 AM on October 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
I haven't seen anything that does this out-of-the-box, but I'd imagine you could put together a Wordpress plugin (i.e. posts via dropbox) based solution that might come close.
Other solutions are probably similar to the scriptogr.am service that you already found which use markdown, an easier, stripped-down version of html. My guess is that most markdown solutions are not equipped to handle images/media without a corresponding markdown file to embed them. The problem with raw media files is that your automation system needs some way to determine the blog's post title (or depending on blog platform, other required input fields). Perhaps that data can be parsed from the file name?.
More info on the various markdown automation options - Blogging with Markdown and Dropbox, and 3 Markdown Dropbox Blogging Platforms.
PS - Also came across an iOS solution using markdown and IFTTT - apparently IFTTT doesn't allow .md file extensions, but this solution uses markup formatting within a normal .txt file. You might find other IFTTT solutions with that same work-around.
posted by p3t3 at 5:46 PM on October 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
Other solutions are probably similar to the scriptogr.am service that you already found which use markdown, an easier, stripped-down version of html. My guess is that most markdown solutions are not equipped to handle images/media without a corresponding markdown file to embed them. The problem with raw media files is that your automation system needs some way to determine the blog's post title (or depending on blog platform, other required input fields). Perhaps that data can be parsed from the file name?.
More info on the various markdown automation options - Blogging with Markdown and Dropbox, and 3 Markdown Dropbox Blogging Platforms.
PS - Also came across an iOS solution using markdown and IFTTT - apparently IFTTT doesn't allow .md file extensions, but this solution uses markup formatting within a normal .txt file. You might find other IFTTT solutions with that same work-around.
posted by p3t3 at 5:46 PM on October 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Hi guys!
Thanks for all your responses, and apologies for my delay in responding.
@Magnakai -- at the moment I don't actually blog. The reason, incidentally, is quite well put by a link in @p3t3's answer:
I was trying to keep blogging, but always give up after a few posts. I used blogger, wordpress, tumblr before but I increasingly feel that they are too bloated for simple task such as blogging.
Basically I have a bunch of content that I haphazardly generate in OSX Notes, photos, Google Docs etc. Getting that content onto the web in a nicely presented format, despite the many tools available, is surprisingly psychologically difficult.
@rada has suggested the public folder option, which is close to what I want, but after dumping the content into the folder, it would be good if the next step was automated; my content should automatically appear in blog format with no extra work on my part :-).
I'll take a closer look at @p3t3's other links on the weekend. Thanks again for all your answers.
posted by tomargue at 7:37 PM on October 30, 2013
Thanks for all your responses, and apologies for my delay in responding.
@Magnakai -- at the moment I don't actually blog. The reason, incidentally, is quite well put by a link in @p3t3's answer:
I was trying to keep blogging, but always give up after a few posts. I used blogger, wordpress, tumblr before but I increasingly feel that they are too bloated for simple task such as blogging.
Basically I have a bunch of content that I haphazardly generate in OSX Notes, photos, Google Docs etc. Getting that content onto the web in a nicely presented format, despite the many tools available, is surprisingly psychologically difficult.
@rada has suggested the public folder option, which is close to what I want, but after dumping the content into the folder, it would be good if the next step was automated; my content should automatically appear in blog format with no extra work on my part :-).
I'll take a closer look at @p3t3's other links on the weekend. Thanks again for all your answers.
posted by tomargue at 7:37 PM on October 30, 2013
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posted by Magnakai at 2:23 AM on October 28, 2013 [1 favorite]