About
Project Broadsheet is a passion project. This page explains what it's for, who builds it, and how it came to be.
Why this exists
Publishing used to require a building full of equipment and a staff of twenty. Today it requires a web browser and a few hundred dollars a month, but the options are still narrower than they should be. You can pay a SaaS like Substack or Ghost and accept that your content, your reader list, and your entire operation live on someone else's servers. You can wrestle with WordPress and spend more time on maintenance than on writing. You can roll your own static site and rebuild every feature from scratch.
None of those matched what I wanted to use. So I built what I wanted to use.
Project Broadsheet is the result: a full publishing system with nine editorial sections, a reviews stack, a public-domain library, twenty-seven reader tools, search, SEO, newsletter integration, privacy-respecting analytics, and the small handful of other things a real publication needs. All of it lives in a Git repository you control. All of it is free.
What "democratize publishing" means to me
Every feature a major paper has, a proper section structure, RSS feeds per writer, reader-focused tools, accessible navigation, a searchable archive, a way for editors to collaborate, used to be trapped behind enterprise contracts or custom development budgets. It shouldn't be. A freelance journalist, a neighborhood historian, a classroom teacher, a retired essayist should all be able to run a publication that looks and works as well as anything from a major outlet.
That is the mission: give those tools to anyone who wants them, and keep them free.
About me
My name is Jon Ajinga. I'm a web developer and a writer based in Colorado. I run The Freethinking Times, the publication that was the first live test of Project Broadsheet. I also operate Pikes Peak Web Designs, a small web-design practice that built the site you're reading.
I built Project Broadsheet for myself first. I decided to release it because other people kept asking me how I did things on The Freethinking Times, and writing documentation turned into writing a framework.
Working with me
If you'd like help setting up, migrating, or operating a publication on Project Broadsheet, I do take on client work, selectively. I prefer to work with independent journalists, small publishers, educators, and organizations doing work I admire. I'm not a marketing agency. I don't outsource. Every email comes to me and every reply is from me.
If that sounds like a fit, see what I offer or book a call. I'll get back to you within a business day.
How the project is funded
Project Broadsheet is MIT-licensed and free forever. There is no paid tier, no enterprise edition, and no plan to introduce either. The work is funded by:
- Paid services. When someone hires me to set up or migrate their publication, a slice of that revenue funds framework maintenance and new features.
- Open Collective. If the project is useful to you, contributing a few dollars a month keeps it going.
- GitHub Sponsors. Same idea, different platform.
None of these are expected. The software is free regardless.
What's next
The public roadmap is where upcoming work is tracked. The changelog records what's shipped. The blog is where I write about the work as it happens.
Questions, ideas, or a publication you'd like to show me? Get in touch. I read every message myself.