I’m writing this post from “Windows Live Writer Beta” and think it is a great new application for writing blog posts. I simply launch the application, and the program does the rest of the work. There is no need to sign in, or go to the “Write” section of the WordPress Administration area. Saves me time that I can spend writing blog posts or finding the next great thing to talk about.
Screenshot & Features:
(Sidenote: I figured out how to optimize .PNG’s – The “Optimized” .PNG was around 8KB smaller than the .GIF version – So much for my study. Oh well, Live and learn right?)
As you can see above, it has the ability to:
- Insert pictures directly from your desktop and automatically upload them when you publish the post.. Removes the hassle of uploading pictures beforehand.
- Easy to use WYSIWYG editor with standard formatting and large buttons… Thats one of the things that WordPress could improve upon.. The current toolbar is really small and hard to see. Includes Blockquote, Ordered list, Unordered List, et.
- Simple Copy and Paste of a Youtube URL to embed it.
- Includes Spellcheck and bolds the term when it is spelt wrong, making your ‘proofreading’ stage a much easier task.
- One more thing that makes this Writer excel from the other options of publishing a blog post is the fact that it includes a “More” button which splits the blog post into a summary/full post. Useful for people that use that technique, although I don’t use it.
Cost:
Free to use! Just like Windows Hotmail, Spaces, and all of their other tools. The catch? There isn’t one.. yet. It would be a shame if they put a price tag on this product.
Where to find this program:
Download: Link (http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/)
If you don’t use Windows:
Hmmm.. Wouldn’t really know of any alternatives. A quick Google search pointed me to HongKiat’s post about alternatives – These three blogging platforms caught my eye. (They work on all 3 Operating Systems):
- Flock
- Bleezer
- WBloggar (works in firefox)
- ScribeFire (works in firefox)
Do you have a favourite blogging platform? If so, does it increase your productivity or time to write a post?
13 Comments
I been using WLW for more than a year now. it’s a great application to make a blogger’s life essier. I have tried many other alternatives like Ecto for windows, scribefire and others, but nothing comes close to Windows Live writer. probably is because of the familiar interface that resembles office, but with Windows Live Writer I feel like at home.
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Flock is very cool as a social media browser , but the built in blog editor is very basic same can be said about scribeFire. I used both but didn’t like them that much , but if you are managing multiple blogs and writes posts without lots of formatting then they might come in handy. Going to test Live Writer now
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I think this is one of the best tools when going and trying to write and publish an article on your blog. Great thoughts.
@ Nelson – I just found out about it from a friend, too bad I didn’t hear about it earlier
@ Nishadha – Well, I’m only managing this one right now, so I don’t think the alternatives I listed will be necessary for me.
@ Blog Expert – Glad you enjoy it, I really like it as well.
This is perfect timing Brad, I just upgraded to WP 2.7 and the buttons on the Post Editor are DEAD, have been trying to fix them but so far nothing. I will use Windows Writer for now.
By the way, what plug-in are you using for your gravatars in comments? cause the one I had is not working with 2.7
JR @ Internet Marketing Strategies’s last blog post..Link Building – 7 More Do-Follow Social Sites
@ JR – I usually wait until there is a “Real” reason to update the WordPress version, instead of just some graphical gimicks, and in your case, don’t work
I’m just using the standard PHP gravatar that you find on the official Gravatar website tag for the comments.. No special plugin is used.
I know, I will NEVER upgrade again like I did, this was my first upgrade with WP and I wish I never heard of it. Thanks for the gravatar info, will check that out!
JR @ Internet Marketing Strategies’s last blog post..Link Building – 7 More Do-Follow Social Sites
See, and people make fun of me for upgrading six months after they do. LOL
I’ve used some of the other writers in the past and they all have their merits..I’ll try this one next, thanks.
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hum… i can’t see any advantage in writing a post there… .why not stick with the wordpress editor?
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I am new to blogging and learning more everyday! I use live writer and find it easy to use and all the time learning more about it. Thanks for the great blog post I learned from you today. Kisses Donna Marie
@ Dennis – It’s alright, I share your feelings towards “delayed” upgrades
@ Hugo Santos – There are a number of reasons why:
1 – You don’t have to manually upload an image, it does it for you.
2 – You don’t have to manually embed a video to your post, it does it for you.
3 – You don’t have to manually click “Preview” to see what your post will look like when it’s published.
4 – You don’t have to manually configure hyperlinks, it does it all for you. (EG – New frame, alt text, etc)
Theres more reasons, but I think I’ve made the point
@ Donna – Glad you liked it! Thanks for stopping by.
I used Scribefire for sometime but since I change to Flock I use the one on Flock. Although normally I write in Neo Office and just copy paste. Can’t use live writer since I use a Mac. But It looks really good in your review especially the video feature.
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Thanks for the great info Brad. That definitely helped with some questions I had about the program.
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