If you are not interested in under-the-hood Internet standards stuff, this post is not likely for you.

So why choose Offprint @offprint.app

1. New technology... Standard.site
   There are some new standards being created on the Internet, and these are ideas that make a whole lot of sense. It's a bit of an explanation, so here goes...
   
   If you’re on Bluesky, you may have heard of something called atproto, or the AT Protocol—short for the Authenticated Transfer Protocol.

   Essentially, it is a new open standard for social media. Bluesky is currently by far the largest app built on it, but other developers can use the same protocol to create their own social apps and services.

   Unlike Twitter, where the company completely controls your account and everything attached to it, AT Protocol separates the social-media app from your identity and data. Your posts, likes, follows and other public information are kept in a standardized data repository hosted on a Personal Data Server. For most users, that server is currently operated by Bluesky, but your account can theoretically be moved to another hosting provider without losing your identity, posts or social connections.

   What is the advantage of this arrangement? Suppose someone builds another atproto-supported social-media app with better features than Bluesky. Because both apps use the same protocol, you may be able to sign in with the same identity and access much of the same data and social network, rather than creating an entirely new account and starting again from scratch.

   It would be a bit like switching mobile carriers while keeping the same phone number—although the new app would not necessarily look or behave exactly like Bluesky.
   
   Now, Offprint is a blog service that uses Standard.site, a shared publishing standard which is built on AT Protocol. If atproto is the common language for social media, then Standard.site is the common language for publishing articles, blogs, and newsletters. Just as AT Protocol gives you greater control over your social-media identity and data, Standard.site gives you greater control over your published writing. In principle, I can move my publication to another Standard.site-compatible platform while retaining my posts, identity, and subscriber relationships. As of today, there are three blogging platforms which were built with Standard.site support; one of them is Offprint, the others you can check out here: pckt.blog, Leaflet.
   
   You can see the problems with staying with, say, Substack; you may be able to export the text of your Substack posts and your subscriber list, but you cannot simply carry your entire publication—including its identity, comments, recommendations, and social connections—into another service.
   
   The same goes with Twitter/X. If Twitter dies a horrible death, my live account and its social network die with it. I may be able to download an archive of my tweets, but I cannot transplant the account, followers, replies, and relationships into Bluesky or Threads.
   
   It is best summarized by Offprint themselves:

   🗣️

   Most publishing platforms treat your content as their asset. Your words live on their servers, governed by their rules, subject to their business decisions. If the platform changes direction or disappears, your archive goes with it.
   Offprint works differently. Your content is stored on the decentralized AT Protocol network. Your readers can find you through your handle, and your work remains accessible regardless of what happens to any single service.

   You can read even more about it here.

2. One identity within the Atmosphere
   Offprint and Bluesky are two apps that belong in The Atmosphere, a set of social media apps that support atproto. In a nutshell, your Bluesky account is really your Atmosphere account.
   
   As such, my Offprint account is also my Atmosphere account, so my Bluesky credentials will give me access to Offprint, without having to create a separate username and password. Furthermore, as my browser usually has Bluesky open in another browser tab, I can usually access Offprint without having to log in. As a result, one account controls my identity, my skeets on Bluesky, and my blog posts on Offprint.
   
   Here's a quick 4-minute explanation of Atmosphere on Leaflet.

3. Who needs another publishing service with a Twitter-like function built in?
   Yeah, looking at you, Substack.

4. Then it becomes a matter of taste
   I've looked at all current three Standard.site blogging platforms and Offprint seems to give me the web layout that is best suited for my style.

5. Math
   And finally, it must be able to handle typesetting of math equations with ease:

Who runs Offprint? It seems crazy that I'm supporting a one-man operation!

Obviously new blogging platforms will have bugs and issues, but part of the fun will be watching Offprint evolve to something bigger and better.