Dave Winer has shared a few things here about his WordLand (wordland.social) project, which he’ll be demoing live at WordCamp Canada next month.
WordLand timeline demo by Dave Winer
WordLand is more than just a proof of concept. It’s an actively developed, distraction-free, browser-based editor for publishing to WordPress via a lightweight RSS/JSON‑based protocol.
- It functions as a real posting front‑end to WordPress, offering its own RSS feeds. You can write in Markdown or HTML, and your content can be syndicated outside WordPress—so it supports building an ecosystem of front-ends and aggregators (scripting.com).
- It includes a new loosely‑coupled protocol that enables collaborative editing between apps (e.g., WordLand and the Bingeworth editor), not hard-wired to specific apps .
- As Manton Reece describes, the goal “is to bootstrap something new – a social network without all the problems of Twitter,” centering on control for writers and openness (manton.org).
- Early adopters like Preben Ormen and Andy Sylvester confirm it’s fully functional for composing, uploading images (though some metadata like featured images/tags require WordPress UI), and publishing—describing the experience as “great” and distraction‑free while acknowledging some early-stage polish is missing.
- Dave’s take on WordLand’s goals:“It’s not so important what you do in this context — it’s how you do it. That’s the news. Writers matter. We’re going spend the next few years making writing for the web a lot easier and much more powerful.“
✅ So: What Is WordLand?
| Aspect | Status |
|---|---|
| Proof-of-concept | In many senses, yes — it’s early-stage, with core features in development rather than a polished release. |
| Fully functional app | Also yes — people are using it daily to publish posts, manage timelines, and interact with WordPress. |
| Incubator for a broader ecosystem | Absolutely — the protocol is open-ended, aiming for multiple apps to interact via RSS/JSON and build new tools. |
In short, WordLand isn’t just a prototype. It’s a real, working editor with real use, but its value lies in its role as a foundation for experimentation, community building, and an open ecosystem. It’s both a practical writing tool today and the first step toward something bigger tomorrow.
Want to explore using WordLand yourself or dive deeper into its protocol/API? Start here. (this.how/wordland/) Dave can help you set it up or point you to support and docs.
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