Disclaimer: This is a vibe coded project. I tried my best to cover edge cases, but it's possible that there might be bugs and other issues somewhere.
Idea behind this project
I wanted to build something interoperable. So the idea for this was make a Google Search like experience. Since I haven't indexed anything, I went with username wise searching method. I can see someone will build this idea far better. If enough people start to write exclusively on AT Proto apps, this can be a bigger thing. People can come and search for anything and they'll get a result just like a Google search.
Initially, I built this as a place to publish long form posts as a demo. But once I became familiar with the idea behind it, I'm now revamping it as a reading center for all long form posts on AT Proto. Currently, only WhiteWind and Leaflet are integrated. Planning to integrate more collections soon.
As a non coder, it was a bit difficult to combine both and maintain a consistent style, because WhiteWind uses Markdown-based writing while Leaflet uses a block-based linear structure. I'm a Markdown-based file promoter in all cases for writing, because it's easy to port anywhere. But once I explored Leaflet's structure, I could see that it also makes sense for their use case.
From my understanding, they both use different kinds of comment integration. Leaflet is more advanced and expressive, while WhiteWind integrates an indexing-like experience. I liked that idea but didn’t include both.
For Leaflet, it uses a post reference, so I implemented that post for Leaflet docs, which will work as an interactive meta stats and discussion chain.
Survival of the fittest
It’s possible that the people behind any project may shift their focus to something else, and as a result, they might have to stop their service.
Even if any of these platforms stop offering their services tomorrow, all the records are stored in your repository, and through tools like this site, your writings will still be accessible.
I understand that it might feel too technical for non-technical people. But I believe that as time goes on and the AT Proto ecosystem evolves, most of the pain points will be addressed by enthusiastic developers. That’s how it has always been. People start building something to solve their own unique problems, and tinkering with those ideas opens up many paths. Over time, tools evolve and become spaces for everyone.
You can read Leaflet's Leaflet Longevity Statement here: https://about.leaflet.pub/
WhiteWind's usage: https://whtwnd.com/whtwnd.com/3kt3lixripz2s
I read that more people are exploring long-form writing projects
As time permits, I’ll try to include more.
To implement the subpages properly, I created several subpages within a document, including some with deeper nesting. These subpages are just for demonstration purposes, otherwise, I would have written everything on a single page.
Something about Leaflet
I like their Pages and Canvases features, they’re quite nice. But I haven’t included Canvas here. Subpages, however, can be visualized in many ways. They use a side-by-side layout, while I built a similar experience here using breadcrumb navigation. I can still imagine many more possibilities to experiment with this idea.
As I mentioned earlier, Leaflet is more expressive. They offer theming and other customization options, and they plan to include more block types soon. So perhaps Leaflet is on its way to becoming a Substack alternative.