Since it was released, IA Writer has changed the way I write. Including on this blog. It has changed to such an extent that Wordpress – the blogging software I used to run this site previously – started to get in my way. I wanted a way of simply publishing words, rather than getting all wrapped up in php, theming files and database problems. All of which I seemed to be doing more of.

What I needed was a way of publishing markdown files easily. That would fit more with my writing process with Writer. I tried Jekyll and fell at the first hurdle because of my lack of Ruby know-how. What I needed was all the things Jekyll offers, but with the ease of PHP. Now, if it had a similar tempting language to Expression Engine and a good dose of YAML thrown in, then I’d be on to a winner. In steps Statamic to save the day. I’m not going to harp on too much about it, but it lets you write your posts in Markdown, then you just upload the file – no database, no clunky admin interface. Just you and your words.

This new design is a return to a design I ditched a little while ago. Single column. Sized to be easy on the eye. There’s a bit of Gridset in there to create the grid. Type from Process type – specifically, the serif is the rather lovely Elena and the sans serif is Colfax.

Note. There are bugs and bits and bobs not complete. RSS, some squiffy type, margins, padding etc. I’ll get to them, but I’d rather get it out there and fix those as I go.