We have a new kid on the block of blogging platforms.  Ghost.   The site gives the following benefits of the new platform:

• Never stop writing, format on the fly
• No messing around with buttons everywhere
• No writing repetitive HTML markup
• Mobile friendly

It already has close to 300,000 users within a month.  Ghost is Node.js-based and a minimalistic blogging platform.  It still has a long way to go and has some basic features that still need to be added.

There are two major features still lacking from the platform: the fancy graphical management console and the hosted service. The graphical console with all of its fancy charts and graphs has been set aside temporarily while the core team focuses on making Ghost stable and functional enough for launch, but it should be making an appearance in an upcoming release.

Ghost is definitely going the WordPress way.  They will come out with a hosted solution as well and later will throw in the custom domains as well.

The hosted option is also coming soon. Instead of needing to set up your own Web server, you’ll be able to sign up and create a working Ghost blog with only a couple of clicks. Custom domains will also be supported. The end result should be a service similar in scope to hosted WordPress.

One feels that the blogs does look nice.

Related articles from external sites

• Launch Ghost with Rackspace Deployments
• Ghost – Bringing Blogging Back
• Minimal, Open Source Blogging Platform Ghost Goes Public
• Ghost has launched to the public
• Understanding Ghost: Stages of Design
• Ghost is Here, and Envato Has All the Resources You Need