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Telescope
p/telescopeWrite, publish, and distribute in a new beautiful way.
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Alexander

Telescope - A beautiful, stylish and minimal publishing platform ✏️

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Telescope is a writing and publishing platform. It offers a beautiful and minimal text editor, it doesn't ask your personal details, it features a bunch of cool content distribution mechanisms, and fast and nice-looking content pages.

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Alexander
Maker
Dear Product Hunters! 👋 The idea of Telescope appeared in my head when I understood that I don’t like the existing publishing platforms anymore, and it seems like nobody else does — most of them are monstrous, they show you ads, include tons of JS, and, in addition, they lock you in and don't allow you to own the content you created. Telescope requires no registration, it's fast and it includes several unique features like the ability to subscribe to any projects or blogs using Telegram, or export all your articles in the form of a standalone HTML blog in just 2 clicks! I’ve been working hard on this project for the last months, and I’m genuinely interested in hearing what you think about it so far.
Dmitrii Volykhin
What is the editor library? Does editing work offline?
Alexander
Maker
@volyx it uses Slate (slatejs.org) — I compared several editor libraries and found this one to be more stable and easily extendable. Yes, Telescope supports offline editing (it stores your data in Local Storage in this case).
Erikas Mališauskas
I really liked how simple it is. Loved the minimal design and user experience. I think it's all you need when publishing - just writing your stuff without any distractions.
Alexander
Maker
@erikasaves thank you for your support! Yes, that's exactly the main idea.
Faraz Golestani
This is awesome. Glad to see a simple alternative to Medium. How are you planning to monetize?
Alexander
Maker
@dayaz36 Pro accounts are already implemented. They give you some additional customization options and the dark theme for both editor and blog/project. There is one more feature that will become available quite soon and only for Pro accounts — an ability to see the detailed information about visitors and views. I also have an idea of implementing a model similar to Patron that will allow content creators to get money from their "premium" subscribers. However, this is still something I need to think more about.
Adam Lasnik
@dayaz36 @alwxtwi Alexander, can you clarify: you mention "an ability to see the detailed information about visitors and views" but how would this co-exist with a lack of "any scripts, tracking mechanisms or banners"?
Trevor
How about tex equations?
Alexander
Maker
@trevy it's a very good idea, thanks! I have several more important things to do now, but I will add it to my backlog and think of implementing after I finish dealing with authentication, videos, and subscription mechanisms. Thanks!
Stas Moor
That is super awesome, great work! I've been looking for a good replacement of Medium — it seems that you've made it. Will give it a go for sure. Thank you for making it. 🙂
Alexander
Maker
@moorstas thanks for your support!
Stowe Boyd
No comments?
Alexander
Maker
@stowe_boyd not yet. Comments is a feature you need to be extra careful with. I am still thinking of a better way to implement it, but it will become available sooner or later.
Rahul pratap
This product seems to be a future unicorn to me if done effectively.
Alexander
Maker
@rahulpratap thanks, Rahul!
Aleh Atsman
Like it! Going to use it as replacement to Telegraph.
Alexander
Maker
@aleh_atsman please do! :) Thanks!
Kamban
This looks great!
Alexander
Maker
@steve15645462 I am glad you like it!
Maksym Kuchur
Really nice! Tried it a little and it feels convenient and friendly. Will it be possible to add tables?
Alexander
Maker
@maksym_kuchur thanks! Well, I must say it's not #1 priority, but I have it in my backlog :) So it will be available soon. Different types of lists and embedded content will become available this or next week.
Maksym Kuchur
@alwxtwi cool! thanks :)
Aadil Ayub
This looks sweet. Any plans for custom domain support?
Alexander
Maker
@aadil_ayub sure, it's one of the top priority tasks, and it will be implemented very soon.
Lachlan Kirkwood
Launching soon!
Absolutely love the minimal UI! Any plans on building an integration analytics into posts?
Alexander
Maker
@lachlankirkwood thanks! There are some basic metrics already (at least you can see the number of page views and the number of subscribers), but you cannot see how these numbers change over time. Of course, it's one of the top priority features, and improved analytics is planned to be implemented in the next 2-3 weeks.
Lachlan Kirkwood
Launching soon!
@alwxtwi Sounds good, looking forward to it!
Gian Pepe
The lack of bells and whistles is satisfying to interact with.
JC Alvarez
Congrats @alwxtwi ! As stated before, you have a winner in minimalism! Very clean and simple experience, removing distractions in the process.
Alexander
Maker
@jcalvarezjr thank you. I'm a big fan of minimalism, so I will certainly continue moving the product in this direction :)
Justin Mitchell
Good thing @sachagreif renamed his project to VulcanJS ;)
Lyondhür Picciarelli
This is neat as. Very cool project.
Amit Aggarwal
Hey Alexander Really cool. One feed back- When a user creates a new project then instead of him be remain on the same page ( i.e. Your Projects ), he should be redirected to the list of stories page. Reason is when I am creating a new project, my next tasks obviously is the create the stories .. does it make sense ?
Alexander
Maker
@amit_aggarwal2 yes, it will be fixed, thanks!
Amit Aggarwal
@alwxtwi Superb for integrating the feedback ..
user 8315
What is the difference between this and something like https://fwiw.me ?
Alexander
Maker
@archiebaer several things I've noticed by browsing it for 5 minutes: 1) fwiw uses markdown; 2) it supports only one theme; 3) it's editor is too very basic (it's basically a field) — for example, it doesn't support code highlighting and any highlighting at all; 4) there is no ability to upload your images; 5) it has no distribution mechanisms; 6) it requires you to authorize with social networks; 7) it doesn't allow you to save drafts; 8) it doesn't allow you to change your post links. FWIW has the ability to use a custom domain name, but it's something that will also become available in Telescope soon. Probably, there are many more differences.
Jan Uwland
Pleeeease bring custom domains and fill the gap left by Medium's old features. Startups are craving a lightweight blog engine to plug into a microsite, none are simple enough.