Settling in, and looking ahead
Hey Bloggers ! A lot has happened since our last post. Which always seems to be the case... We've been hard at work crafting new features and refining existing ones.
By the way, it was so nice to meet many of you at Atmosphere Conference !
Previously, we announced pckt.cafe, our very own Personal Data Server. We've already seen adoption by more than 10% of pckt bloggers, many of whom are stepping into the Atmosphere for the very first time.
We also launched read.pckt.blog, which has become an essential tool for discovering and subscribing to blogs from the pckt community and across the wider Atmosphere, thanks to Standard.site.
And finally, we added Photo Galleries, which have given bloggers a new way to share and express themselves visually on pckt.
Since then, we've polished and unified many areas of the interface to create a smoother, more cohesive experience throughout pckt.blog.
We've redesigned our landing page, drawing inspiration from our original while removing much of the noise. It's easier than ever to jump into writing, discover trending posts, or learn more about pckt right from the very first page.
We've also introduced a variety of new features alongside these refinements:
- Our Supporter and Advocate plans now include custom domains and post analytics to keep track of top-performing posts.
- Media storage has been increased across the board.
- Blogs can now have tiled background images.
- Alt-text support has been improved for images and galleries.
- Dashboard search makes finding your posts fast and effortless.
We've also continued to improve read.pckt.blog. An updated layout makes discovering new writers and posts across the Atmosphere even more enjoyable. We've added support for @standard.site Recommends to help surface and promote posts, a Hot Posts section for trending articles, and keyboard navigation to make our reader easier to explore.
Now that pckt's core features are settling in, we can begin to think about what's to come. How can we expand our social features, and make better connections in our community ? In what ways can we come together to make pckt feel more alive ?
Blogging cafés are the first things that come to mind. Shared spaces where multiple blogs can contribute. They could link blogs to one another and give multiple authors a place to post side by side.
An obvious social enhancement will be comments. We definitely want to add discussion tools to blog posts, but we're still working out the best way to implement them.
Remember friend requests ? We'd like to think of pckt as a place to make new friends. In addition to subscribing to blogs, having a separate set of pckt friends could be something special.
We are always thinking of ways to make pckt easier and more fun to use. Please float any ideas you may have our way on Bluesky @pckt.blog. We'd love to hear from you. As always, thank you for being here. We can't wait to see where the future takes us.
Keep on blogging,
pckt
