Introducing Windows Live Writer: A Desktop Blog Publishing Application

Written by PatrickB from Piggy Bank Pie on November 26, 2007

There are many reasons why I do not use the WordPress editor to compose my posts. I prefer to work offline in a word processor, however, using MS Word may cause problems when you Copy/Paste your text from Word to the WordPress editor, because it transfers HTML code that can mess up your post - and your site - badly.

Microsoft officially released Windows Live Writer; it is available for download from Windows Live Services. Live Writer is a desktop application for Windows that has a clean and nice user interface providing more advanced editing functions than standard web editors. The application will save texts locally on your PC, in your blog’s drafts, and it can also publish posts once they are ready for show time.

Requirements & Compatilibity

Live Writer requires the use of Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 operating system or later, a minimum processor of 800 Mhz, and preferably 256 MB of memory.

Surprisingly for a Microsoft product, Live Writer is compatible with a large number of blogging platforms, so you don’t need to be a Live Spaces blogger to take advantage of the application. Supported platforms include:

WordPress
Blogger
Live Spaces
Live Journal
TypePad
And all blogs supporting Really Simple Discoverability

Configuration for WordPress

After installing the application, you are automatically taken to a few basic configuration screens. If your blog runs on WordPress, when asked to choose “Weblog Type” select “Another weblog service”. You will be taken to the Weblog Homepage and Login configuration screen where you enter your blog’s information :

Weblog Homepage URL: Enter your full URL
Username: Your login account
Password: You login password
Once you have entered the above information, click Next and Live Writer will connect and synchronize with your WordPress server to download your theme.

Usability

As I already mentioned, the user interface is well polished. Live Writer can be used to write posts or pages, and while the editor keeps it straight and simple, the toolbar has all standard and default functionalities you would find in a text editor, but also some cool features such as:

An Insert button that allows you to add a Table, Tags for Technorati, del.icio.us, and others…, and even Maps using Microsoft Live Search (I haven’t done too much testing with this last one though).
Live Writer’s default view is set to Web Layout, which is similar to your WordPress editor. You can toggle to other views such as a normal (no web), HTML code, and Web Preview that displays your post embedded in your blog’s theme, without ever leaving the text editor.

The application’s design uses Microsoft standards à la Windows Live. Therefore, if you are familiar with other Live products you will be in known territory. Oh and by the way, as opposed to other Windows Live apps, there are no embedded publicity banners in the product.

Plugins

To help the immersion of Live Writer into a world where free open source products are firmly established, Microsoft opened its doors for developers who wish to write their own plugins and distribute them to the blogging community. You can visit the CodePlex Wiki to find more information on the available plugins.

Summary

While it is common these days to bash Microsoft’s products, I salute this Live Writer initiative. They could’ve write this product only for their Windows Live Spaces blogging platform, but instead they opened their mind and came up with a promising product compatible with most, if not all, blogging platforms. I give it a thumbs up.

Written by PatrickB from Piggy Bank Pie on November 26, 2007 | Filed Under Writing

17 Responses so far | Have Your Say!

Llama Money | November 26th, 2007 at 10:28 am #

I’ve been using WLW for about as long as I can remember. I’ve been through several beta versions, and it’s made some incredible progress. Blogging in Wordpress actually feels wrong after using WLW for so long. If you haven’t tried it, it’s time to download it and give it a go.
Patrick | November 26th, 2007 at 10:47 am #

Hi Mickey Mc, thanks for the nice comment.

Liama, I fully agree with you, writing in WP is a pain compared to Live Writer. And for those who are not convinced yet, give it a try, I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy the experience.

Patrick
bluefrogx | November 26th, 2007 at 2:44 pm #

I kinda like WLW, except for the fact I often post code in my posts and well, WLW doesn’t quite play nice
Patrick | November 26th, 2007 at 3:02 pm #

Now that is something that I haven’t tried because… I’ve never blogged about coding. But recently I had an idea for a post in which I would need to show some basic PHP coding, you just gave me a reason to start working on it.

Patrick
TechDune | November 26th, 2007 at 8:15 pm #

I am hearing a lot about Live Writer..Its time i use it.
PatBiz | November 26th, 2007 at 9:10 pm #

Let me know how you like it techDune.
Patrick
Reverse Funnel System Review | November 27th, 2007 at 1:47 pm #

It could be very interesting idea, didnt try yet any desktop program for posting blog posts, could be good.
Baz L | November 28th, 2007 at 2:49 am #

I did a post about it some time ago.

If you go the the Why I Can’t Use It section, you’ll see what I’m talking about:

Basically there are a few Wordpress plugins that I need and it doesn’t play nice with them. The deal breaker was “All in One SEO Pack”.

I could do all my drafts in there, then upload them, then tweak them in WP, but just seems like too much trouble.
Daniel Primed | November 28th, 2007 at 9:13 am #

I always encounter these sorts of problems in Wordpress, especially when I go back and edit an existing post. Ussualy I have to go into the HTML editor to fix things, although somtimes the HTML editor decides not to update the code after I told it to. I just feel like giving up sometimes.

I’ll definetly give this a go.
Patrick | November 28th, 2007 at 10:53 am #

Hi Baz, just read your post and understand your concerns with SEO plugins. Just as you were mentioning in your post’s conclusion, I mostly use WLW for writing drafts and uploading them to WP. Once I’m done with my text and it’s waiting for me in WP, I finish the last touch ups like All In One SEO directly in WP. But at least, my writing experience is much better now. In the past I was writing in MS Word, copy/pasting to Notepad to remove HTML code and finally Copy/Pasting to WP. Now at least I can write in an optimized interface for bloggers where I can manage my images/links safely, and once done I publish in WP.

Thanks for your comment
Patrick
faizirizal | December 3rd, 2007 at 4:23 am #

right now im using notepad for post draft writing and copy it to wordpress editor

I’ll go for Windows Live Writer. looks great. Thanks for this info.
Baz L | December 3rd, 2007 at 5:27 am #

Hey Patrick: I’ve decided to take your advice and draft in WLW. It’s not going too bad. I just have one question: is there a way to get it NOT to add:

style=”border-width: 0px;”

to all the images it uploads?
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Kamal | October 12th, 2008 at 6:05 am #

Hi All,

This is Kamal from Bangalore, India. I recently launched my website http://burnyourfuel.com, I use to post all my posts with the help of Windows live writer, But for the past two days i am unable to post due to the following reason

1) Once a post is posted it opens like i wrote in coding, and also not in a readeable format. So i am worried about my site.

What i need to know is there is a problem with wordpress or live writer

If any of these two, where is the real problem ?

Thanks in Advance, Awaiting reply.

Kamal.
http://burnyourfuel.com