Be a full-fledged participant on the web and do it on your terms, using apps you're already familiar w, as easily as working w local files.

Build a website using standards compliant HTML and CSS, write posts, create photo galleries, host videos, interact with web services, and do just about anything else you might imagine.

Envision a platform that allows you to more actively participate in the web **on your terms**. A personal publishing platform that offers literally unlimited potential for personal expression and experimentation whether you're interested in web design and development - even if you think it might be too difficult for you. (It's probably not - as long as you're willing to learn a thing or two along the way.)

Now imagine you can do all of this using your favorite apps and working with local* files - copying, moving, renaming, deleting files and folders just like you already know how to do.

Is it really local?

Many of file transfer application allow you to connect to your remote storage space as if it were a locally mounted volume. It looks and acts just like a drive connected directly to your Mac via USB. This allows you to treat your Ode site as if it were running on your local drive but all of the changes that you make are taking place live on your site. This style of interaction works particularly well with Ode. With no database to worry about, and cryptic data stores, you already know how to work with Ode. Open your favorite text editor, write your post, save the file directly to your site using a standard open/save dialog box, and you're done. Your new post is now live on the web. Of course your favorite app offers a wealth of functionality that make writing your posts a joy spell checking, auto completion, advanced search and replace, syntax highlighting, etc. Maybe most importantly it offers you an environment you're already comfortable with including all of your preferences and other tweaks. What's more, you're not limited to any one single app. Simultaneously run, and switch between an text editor, and GUI HTML/CSS, photo management, video editing apps, and more.

Why trade all of this for the glorified text boxes that you get with other content management systems and weblog packages?

Sound good? (I think so too.)