Chapter24 has had syntax highlighting for code since day 1. However it was flaky at best; it would try to guess the programming language of a snippet and almost always get it wrong. There was no way for a user to manually specify it either. 

No longer!!

We've added a code block element that lets you specify the programming language right in your text editor. It'll then apply GitHub flavoured syntax highlighting to the snippet before it's rendered for viewing!

And this is what it looks like to a reader:

def drive_delorean
  puts "I'm sending

…

I've been asked a number of times how Chapter24 compares with Medium or WordPress in terms of features.

I don't believe this is a valid comparison as all 3 products are conceptually pretty different and have rather different goals. However since I've been asked so often, I'll outline how Chapter24 differs from Medium and WordPress and the problems we're trying to solve.

Medium's primary focus is to help writers earn money by selling subscriptions to readers. Chapter24 is the complete opposite; we charge writers who write as a hobby a subscription fee to manage and host their blogs…

As I promised when Chapter24 launched, all Chapter24 blogs now allow readers to comment on posts. It's super simple for people to comment on posts; no need to create an account or login or any nonsense like that. They just fill in their name, email and comment and they're good to go!

The comments are organised as "threads" so conversations are easier to follow. Here's what a comment thread looks like:

As a blog owner, you'll receive daily email notifications about new comments…

It's often helpful to get feedback on your writing before you publish it to the world. To simplify this, you can now generate a public preview link for your posts to share around before actually publishing the post to your blog.

The link will only allow users to read your post and they won't be able to make any edits. You can disable the link at any time as well.

To create the preview link, click the Menu button at the top right of the post editor and then click on "Get a public preview link".

…

Linking directly to a point in your post can be very helpful. You may want to point a reader directly to a subsection; or maybe link to a "TLDR;" section of a very long post.

If you hover over the heading below, you'll see a link icon appear and the heading is clickable. Clicking it will update your browser's URL address bar and you can share that value to link directly to that heading.

You can also link to a heading from within your post. Create a link from the toolbar and enter the heading…

While most of the features of our text editor are accessible visually through the toolbar; there are some nifty hidden features that may not be as obvious. This post describes how you can access these features so you get the most out of the text editor!

YouTube videos can be embedded into your blog post simply by pasting a valid YouTube link into the editor. No additional steps required!

Our editor automatically highlights code in most major programming languages! You just need to embed a code snippet…

Blogging should be easy. You shouldn't have to know HTML or Markdown. You shouldn't have to know anything about web hosting or setting up domain names. And your blog certainly shouldn't have ads or annoying popups that appear from nowhere like a punch in the face. 

If you can use a web browser, you should be able to write a blog. Chapter24 makes it just that easy.

Chapter24 has no outside funding or arbitrary growth targets. It's designed to be a self-sustaining product and as such, the experience of our customers and their readers is the top priority…