Windows Live Writer: What Took Me So Long?
I’m always the last person on the blogging block to install plugins or software. I don’t immediately join social networking and media sites and know nothing about modifying my template. It’s not laziness, mind you. I’m just rather confused when it comes to technical matters. In order to make any sort of changes I have to consult various online glossaries and tutorials and call in favors from a few teenaged nephews. In addition to said consulting of nephew and glossaries, it’s not always easy for me to find time to research products, services and sites. Lame, I know. But I’m getting better.
Which brings me to my point, and yes, I have one.
I could kick myself for waiting so long to use an offline editor. A few years ago I tried Qumana but it was too buggy and I was prone to regular crashes and other computer calamities.I promptly forgot about using an offline blog editor. Posting via the WordPress dashboard is fine, but since I maintain about 9 blogs, I need something to help me manage things a bit better. While at Blog World Expo, everyone and his brother recommended I try Windows Live Writer. I made a mental note to check it out and promptly forgot. Obviously I’m a person who needs to write stuff down.
A couple of weeks ago the subject of offline blog editors came up again and I decided to give it a whirl. I downloaded Windows Live Writer and my life has changed for the better. Here’s why I’m singing its praises:
It’s easy to install: No teenagers were employed to assist in this installation. I did it all by myself. Me. I didn’t consult manuals or call in the Army Corp of Engineers. If I can do this, you can too.
I don’t have to switch dashboards. All my blogs are on the same dashboard. Now, there was the time I forgot to change blogs on the drop down menu and ended up with my Freelance Writing Jobs post appearing at Celebrity Cowboy, but hey, who says gossip mongers couldn’t benefit from a few writing tips?
I can blog offline. With an offline blog editor, I can blog anywhere I want and set the time stamp to post whenever. This is the main reason I employed Windows Live Writer. I wanted to be able to post ahead for the holidays and actually take time off while on vacation.
One of the things I like best about Windows Live Writer is the video embedding feature. Pre-offline editor, I embedded videos directly onto the WordPress dash, I couldn’t come back and edit the post or the code would go all wonky. For someone as technically challenged as me, this was a major frustration. The video embedding feature in this editor allows me to embed and edit to my heart’s content.
It’s only been a couple of weeks, but so far I have no complaints. Using an offline editor is much more convenient than switching from blog to blog. Uploading photos and embedding videos is a snap and I can play around with design options without breaking anything.
Tell me, do you use an offline blog editor? If so, which one and why?
Mary Jo | December 23rd, 2007 at 12:43 pm #
I’m one of those Live Writer fan, and for much of the same reasons as you (although I don’t have 9 blogs)! The ease of the installation and use were big selling points for me.
I’ve even added in a few of the extra plug-ins and have had fun with them as well.
Emma | December 23rd, 2007 at 2:31 pm #
I’ve been pushing Windows Live Writer since I tried it months ago. Sometimes I worry I’ll forget how to use the Wordpress dashboard after being spoiled by Live Writer. Switching to different blogs is simple and you can’t beat the ease of embedding video and graphics.
Susan Gunelius | December 23rd, 2007 at 8:55 pm #
Deb, I agree. Offline editors are super cool! I’ve been using BlogDesk, but I’ve heard great things about LiveWriter, too. I’ve been thinking of downloading LiveWriter just to see the difference to decide if I like one more than the other. Thanks for reminding me!
Armen | December 24th, 2007 at 4:15 am #
Hmmm…I used to use Live Writer, and loved it. However, one issue really annoyed me, and so I stopped. Every time you edit a post, if it has any images in it, it uploads the images again, not overwriting the old ones. It’s a real waste of disk space.
Does anyone know if they’ve fixed this yet?
Fred Chan | December 24th, 2007 at 4:36 am #
I have tried blogdesk for offline posting but I can’t get connected to my host server to upload my posts. I used shared hosting. Any of you got same problem and managed to resolved how to connect to host server of your shared hosting.
Fred
http://www.fredchanblog.com
freelance writing | December 26th, 2007 at 2:49 am #
Actually windows live writer is great…the main problem is configuring it with our server…thats really a great problem…hope someone can come up with a guide for it
Kevin | December 30th, 2007 at 2:00 am #
If you’re on the Mac try MarsEdit: http://www.red-sweater.com/marsedit. It makes posting to your blog a breeze and it’s super simple to use. MarsEdit is one of the few applications I use nearly every day. Give it a try, you’ll love it!
Kevin | December 30th, 2007 at 2:02 am #
Oops…delete the period from the link above. I didn’t realize I put the period at the end of the URL. Sorry!
Spike | December 31st, 2007 at 6:20 pm #
@Armen - the issue with uploading multiple times was fixed a while back.
Robert | January 3rd, 2008 at 7:16 am #
Does anyone know how to get around WLW’s installation method? It wants to go through Windows Update, and my firewall here is blocking that. I have no other methods for access for at least several months and there seems to be no manual download that I can find. I’d really like to try it out.
tanya25m | January 26th, 2008 at 3:39 pm #
I’ve been using Windows Live Writer for about 3 months now. So far I’ve had no problems, except that it converts ï to some weird character on my Wordpress blog. So I have to post a draft, then edit online. I was using BlogJet earlier and didn’t have any such problems.