Web 2.0 - Windows Live Writer reviewed for blogging

windows live writer,Microsoft,blogging,web 2.0,adobe contribute

Pains of Blogging Answered

Since day one of use my Contribute 4 version sometimes would just absolutely refuse to post an article, labeling one error message or another.I finally get insanely frustrated with the glitching from Adobe Contribute and break down to evaluate a better blogging tool.

Under time pressure due to my December from Hell (better make that my YEAR from Hell), I finally had enough with the random glitch issue and decided to evaluate using something else that would allow offline editing (WordPress has a fairly decent editing tool built in) and would be fairly future proof.

Notice that ‘Free’ button.

It’s hard to keep from enjoying not paying out cash for a product.

Yet another entry from MSFT into the Web 2.0 space such as with the Silverlight framework which allows two-way communication from a website, and oh yes… this is for free. That’s pretty disruptive.

Note: Contribute is a fantastic tool for light web editing. The Dreamweaver / Contribute combination was a great toolset for Macromedia users keen on keeping web content updated with oversight from a supervising geek who knew DW and how the web should really work. My business usage was in setting it up for others who could modify or maintain basic web sites with it, particularly SOHO business operators.

My issues with Contribute hasn’t stopped me from owning three licenses, it’s just stopped me from upgrading them. I’ve just had doubts that it was worth an upgrade price (only like fifty bucks or so) when they weren’t adding many features into it or fixing bugs aggressively.

So… enter Windows Live Writer.

From 9 Ways to Get More Out of Windows Live Writer - Lifehack.org

In case you haven’t heard about it, WLW is an offline WYSIWIG (What You See Is What You Get) blogging tool that integrates very nicely with most blogging platforms, allowing you to create and edit blog posts from your desktop. Although it is usually great fun to mock Microsoft’s efforts, as it happens WLW is really very cool. If you regularly write for several different sites, it can really help to simplify your blogging life!

Unlike a lot of Microsoft products, WLW makes a strong effort to work with a variety of non-Microsoft services and products. So while it gives Microsoft’s own “Live Spaces” service pride of place in the setup dialog, WLW works well with a variety of blogging platforms, from hosted services like Google’s Blogger and Wordpress.com to Wordpress and other blogging programs hosted on your own servers — it even works with non-mainstream platforms like Drupal, albeit minus a few of the bells and whistles.

Update: I particularly like the glossary addition method (click for full size capture):

Simply by adding terms, I can save myself the pain of having to relink frequently used content, saving time in my blog workflow.