Microsoft have released a desktop blogging tool, Windows Live Writer, as part of their Windows Live initiative. It was developed from a tool produced by Onfolio, a company Microsoft acquired recently. Nathan Weinberg over at InsideMicrosoft has a couple of posts on the subject. (He sounds pretty miffed; apparently somebody broke the embargo on the news, so he’s having to blog about it from a wedding!).
I’ve used Live Writer to do two posts now today, and I have to say I am really impressed. It is without a doubt the best desktop blogging tool I have seen. One of it’s coolist features is its ability to download the CSS of your blog, and then apply that style to the WYSIWYG editor, making it truly WYSIWYG. It also allows you to insert HTML code, allowing you to insert things like flash widgets or YouTube videos, and then instantly see the results in the editor, something not possible with most online editors.
It also allows for easy manipulation of images from within the program. This is particularly useful, as it irritates me having to start up The Gimp or Photoshop just to change the size of something. You can also apply effects such as borders, and basic filters. Again, this is a feature not available in any online blogging editors.
However, the program does have a major disadvantage. Whilst the fact that it is compatible with so many blogging platforms and not just Microsoft’s Live Spaces is fantastic, it does mean that it does not work with some of the advanced features that WordPress has, such as setting a publish date in the future and custom post fields. I cannot see a way around this, as to include such features would vastly increase UI clutter in what is currently a very usable product by providing features only needed by a tiny percentage of users.
As a result, I think I will continue to mainly use the online editor of WordPress as it is specifically designed for WordPress, although I can see myself using Live Writer on a regular basis. Microsoft can give themselves a pat on the back.
[via InsideMicrosoft]
