I’ve been on a hunt for “the best blog editor” for some time now. I have tried out a handful of products, but I haven’t been completely happy with any of them yet. Perhaps I’m too picky…
At first I focused on desktop blog editors only. This may have been foolish since WordPress provides it’s own online editor which is perhaps the most reliable online text/html editor I’ve ever used. Notwithstanding, I began my search with a bias against online editors and I’m sticking to it*.
1. On Day 1, I purchased WB Editor after performing very little research. I paid just under $20 and I’m still using this product today. It has it’s issues, but for all intents and purposes it gets the job done. I like how it handles/uploads images, the fact that I can post articles as drafts and save posts to local files. I am disappointed, however, that I am unable to create new categories within the tool or change the post dates and times. I’ve also found that downloaded posts lose their formatting (even if they were originally posted through WB Editor) which is a real drag.
2. I’ve dedicated very little time to Zoundry, but I think it is going to win me over. It’s a free download and it addresses 2 of the 3 issues I have with WB Editor. Zoundry lets me manage the date and time of posts and it handles formatting quite well. I haven’t figured out the creation of categories yet and I need to play with photos still, but this product is starting to grow on me.
3. I played with Qumana for about 30 minutes. If you want software which is easy to use, this product is for you. I downloaded, launched the application and was setup for blogging in less than 5 minutes. What I think is interesting (and smart) is the fact that this product really markets the money-making side of blogging. Just check out their home page where they feature Q Ads and a banner that reads, “Write something, stick an ad in it, and bank the money.” In spite of the potential millions it could bring me, I don’t believe I will be using this product going forward. But again, it is SUPER easy to use.
4. And then there was w.bloggar. I admit I was turned off by this product before I even started evaluating. Unfortunately for it’s creator and one-man development team, I opted to download the product when the official w.bloggar site was offline. Rather than seeing the very impressive official site, I saw the “temp” page which was ugly and shared apologies of being in a state of restoration. I was able to download the application and try it out and it worked just fine. I have few complaints except I found the interface to be a little busy and I didn’t care for the way past posts were managed. Otherwise, great product. It definitely got me up and running in no time.
5. I liked the overall “feel” of Ecto. It is was easy to use and a nice product, but after an hour of playing with the trial version I could not justify buying the product for $17.95. It simply wasn’t a superior product compared to what I could get for free (or had already paid for.)
* Okay. So I lied. Even though I shy away from online editors, I had to make an exception and evaluated Performancing for Firefox. This product is awesome considering the fact it isn’t a desktop app. You should try it out. I’m also going to check out a couple of WordPress editor plugins as well.
How about you? Which blog editor do you prefer?
UPDATE: I have now been using Windows Live Writer for quite a while. You can find my write up here.
That’s a great rundown. Two more I’d recommend checking out:
PostXING – Free, allows HTML edit, and it allows you to post the same content to more than one blog (in case you ever need that).
http://www.projectdistributor......easeId=325
Windows Live Writer – Free Microsoft blog posting client. It just came out recently. I was skeptical, but I’ve been really impressed. It has a nice plugin system, so you can use community developed plugins like code formatters. Another cool feature – when you set it up, it reads your site’s style – not just the CSS; it actually creates a temporary test post to figure out your site’s formatting, then deletes it. Then it modifies the editing display to show the post as it will appear on your site. Slick.
http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!D85741BB5E0BE8AA!174.entry
Thanks. I should have known you would have suggestions. After all, you are the ultimate tool guy. I wish I could have attended your presentation at the .NET User Group recently. If anyone is interested in other tools, Jon has published his short list on his blog. I am guessing the long list has 150+ utilities by now.
[...] December JC05:00 pmAdd comment0 Views Per a recommendation from Jon Galloway, I have decided to give Windows Live Writer a chance. I’ve evaluated several blog editors recently and nearly all of the products were intuitive enough to simply download and take for a test drive. Live Writer met this expectation as well. Thus, this review truly is an account of my first impression of the application. [...]
[...] December JC05:00 pmAdd comment1 Views Per a recommendation from Jon Galloway, I have decided to give Windows Live Writer a chance. I’ve evaluated several blog editors recently and nearly all of the products were intuitive enough to simply download and take for a test drive. Live Writer met this expectation as well. Thus, this review truly is an account of my first impression of the application. [...]
[...] December bgriswold05:00 pmAdd comment0 Views Per a recommendation from Jon Galloway, I have decided to give Windows Live Writer a chance. I’ve evaluated several blog editors recently and nearly all of the products were intuitive enough to simply download and take for a test drive. Live Writer met this expectation as well. Thus, this review truly is an account of my first impression of the application. [...]
Hello John.
Surprising you haven’t tried Windows Live Writer. It’s the best desktop blog editor I’ve ever come across.
You’re right, Amrit. I should update this post as WLW has been my editor of choice for quite some time now. I have written a review on WLW. You may wish to have a look — http://johnnycoder.com/blog/20.....ve-writer/. Thanks.
[...] a recommendation from Jon Galloway, I have decided to give Windows Live Writer a chance. I’ve evaluated several blog editors recently and nearly all of the products were intuitive enough to simply download and take for a test drive. [...]
Hi all!
As a fresh johnnycoder.com user i only want to say hi to everyone else who uses this board B-)
Hello! Thanks for joining.
What is bumburbia?
obviously Windows Live Writer! No one can beat WLW as of now!
Hi. Very good review. I like do the same thing, test software and probe good and bad things of them.
I probe with several but none could insert an image with variable size as it does in your editor’s own wordpress. I refer you to resize the browser resize the image. Anyone know how?
Thanks a lot.
Greetings
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