Habla revolutionizes the blogging experience by seamlessly integrating the familiar functionality of traditional platforms with enhanced interaction capabilities. Thanks to Bitcoin and Lightning Network integration, Habla allows you not only to enjoy all the features you're accustomed to but also elevates how you interact with your favorite authors and how you produce your own writing. Explore the array of powerful features Habla offers to maximize your engagement and take your online connections to the next level.

For readers

Comments

Providing feedback is a straightforward feature that speaks for itself. Your input holds significant value for both authors and the community. Simply log in to Habla to express your thoughts and opinions on your favorite articles.

You can log in via a dedicated browser extension (guide).

Highlights

Highlighter is an impressive tool that seamlessly integrates with a variety of Nostr apps including Habla. Think of it as the liberated version of Medium's highlight function. With Highlighter, you can easily mark your favorite sections of text, share them across Nostr apps, boost them, and even receive bitcoin as a reward for sharing compelling thoughts.

Check out how highlights work in your Highlighter dashboard (alpha version at the moment): https://highlighter.com/my/highlights. And see my guide on Highlighter here:

Highlighting stuff has become super easy with Habla: simply select the text you want to highlight and tap the highlight button at the bottom right of your screen.

Explore this guide to unlock the full potential of Highlighter.

The highlights will appear in a dedicated Highlights tab and in your Highlighter dashboard in a dedicated app. Simply click on a highlight to Interact with it:

Zaps

Zaps are a built-in feature of Nostr that allows you to express genuine appreciation for the content you receive. Unlike traditional likes, zaps carry tangible value and serve as a powerful motivator for your favorite creators to continue producing high-quality content.

They also act as a signal, helping authors understand which topics resonate the most with their audience, enabling them to prioritize those topics in the future. If you enjoyed an article on Habla, zap it to show the author that this type of content is valued. Follow these few simple steps to start sending and receiving zaps.

For creators

Markdown

Markdown is a user-friendly markup language that enables the creation of formatted text using a plain-text editor. It serves as a simple yet powerful tool for specifying the desired formatting of text output. While Markdown itself is not a distinct feature of Habla, the platform fully supports this widely adopted format. As an Habla user, you have the advantage of leveraging Markdown to share beautifully structured posts.

To help you get started, Habla provides a handy toolbar for basic formatting, making it accessible even to those unfamiliar with Markdown. A more detailed explanation of Markdown and examples of its syntax are available here. Additionally, I'd like to highlight a few particularly interesting elements that you may find useful in your posts.

Checklists

You can post checklists by inputting the following:

- [x] Wake up

- [x] Stack sats

- [ ] Go to work

Here's what these lists look like for the reader:

• Wake up

• Stack sats

• Go to work

Tables

Tables help make your posts more illustrative and digestible. Adding a table is as simple as tapping a corresponding button in the toolbar:

You can hover over the icons to see what they offer.

Footnotes

Footnotes let you reference relevant information without disrupting the flow of what you're trying to say. Here's how you insert footnotes into your Habla post:

Simply add this[^1] symbol where applicable. 
As you want to add more footnotes, change the number to[^2] and [^3].

Provide references at the end of your article:

[^1]: first reference

[^2]: second reference

[^3]: third reference  

Here's how² this will look for the reader³.

Nostr apps interoperability

Nostr-related links automatically turn into embeds. This is one of the superpowers of Nostr apps - as everything built on Nostr follows the same protocol rules, user experience tends to be more seamless. It's worth noting that there may be exceptions: as some Nostr apps are developed at a higher pace or have first-mover advantage, they may have more features and better compatibility.

Habla takes this to the next level by converting all Nostr-related links into embeds or mentions. By copying a link to any Nostr user or event and pasting it into Habla you will get such reader-friendly results:

• Mentioning a Nostr user:

• Mentioning a long-form post:

• Embedding a note:

• Embedding a badge (can be created and awarded by visiting https://badges.page)

All of this can be achieved by simply copying a link to the desired user or event from a search bar of your browser and pasting it into the editor field on Habla.

Here's a post by that is dedicated to reference possibilities of Habla:

Lists

Lists are a great way to organize Nostr users into categories to later conveniently access their content. Lists can:

• be embedded into Habla posts and help you share accounts/events related to a topic you are describing;

• be a handy tool to have the contacts of people you need quick access to at your fingertips;

• act as an alternative to your following feed.

Lists are very easy to create and manage thanks to https://listr.lol/ by .

All you need to do is:

1. Login to Listr web app with your NIP-07 extension (see guide here)

2. Tap "New List"

3. Choose the kind you need

4. Give it a name

5. Add npubs of people you want to add.

After you're done, save the list, find the list you need on your Listr profile page, press "Copy link" and paste it into your Habla post. You now have a beautifully integrated list embedded into your article and your readers can easily interact with the mentioned people:

Embedding media from traditional platforms

While Nostr is undoubtedly superior to traditional means of communication, many readers aren't yet ready to say goodbye to the YouTubes and Twitters of the world. Habla fixes this by letting you embed traditional social media posts, podcasts, videos and even files.

Simply click the share button on the platform of your choice, choose "embed", copy the suggested code and paste it into Habla.

The same goes for other traditional platforms: just find the </> sign in their "share" section, copy the provided code and drop it into your Habla post.

Embedding media from Nostr-based platforms

Zapstr

Embedding audio tracks can significantly enrich your posts. Doing so by referring to a Nostr-based app makes the embed ever more convenient for the readers. Arguably, the best Nostr client for audio content is Zapstr. Simply copy a link to the Zapstr media file -- be it a song or a podcast episode, and paste it into Habla. Here's an example of a beautiful embed that will appear on your post:

Zap Stream

The same goes for video streams. Newly launched zaps.stream platform allowing anyone to permissionlessly stream live videos and receive sats directly to their Lightning wallets. Embedding a live stream is just as easy as copy-pasting its link. Find out more in my post here:

Here's a Devvvvving live stream by showcasing his progress of building Nostr-based apps:

Communities

Habla also supports communities -- a relatively new development on top of Nostr that allows for creation of Reddit-like curated communities. You can find out more about the communities on Nostr in my previous guide here: . Meanwhile I'd just like to let you know that you can see what's happening in the themed groups by clicking on the corresponding icon at the top-left corner of your screen:

Additionally, you have the freedom to choose the community where your freshly penned article will land. All you need to do is pick the community that suits your content best from the dropdown menu on the creator's dashboard:

The Power of Open Protocols

As you can see, Habla and many other apps built on top of Nostr boast a level of flexibility that leaves traditional platforms in the dust. These apps, all speaking the same language, stand on the shoulders of an open, permissionless communications protocol, unlocking possibilities we've never seen before.

But Habla isn't the only game in town for engaging with long-form posts - it just happens to be the top dog. Other contenders worth a shout-out include Blogstack, Flycat, and Yakihonne. Each brings its unique features to the table. However, in my view, Habla offers the most well-rounded experience for both readers and content creators.

But here's the beauty of Nostr-based apps: if you ever feel one platform isn't cutting it for you, feel free to hop onto another. Your content, followers, and interactions will follow you wherever you go. After all, you're posting on Nostr and interacting with the Nostr community. Platforms like Habla are just a handy tool to make your interaction with the protocol smooth and straightforward.

Join the communications revolution now! Be a trailblazer in this exciting development and snag that first-mover advantage. Start building up a follower base of free, sovereign readers who can support you, no matter the national borders or traditional financial system restrictions.

Have questions? Don't hesitate to reach out to Habla Maverics mentioned in the list below: