Monday, August 14th, 2006...12:09 pm by Leroy Brown
Windows Live Writer Review
Microsoft just joined the desktop blogging application game, with Windows Live Writer. So far in my blogging career, I haven’t found a desktop blogging tool that I really like. I’ve used 2 of the big ones, Ecto and Qumana, but I haven’t switched over yet. Neither app seemed to give me any substantial benefit over the Wordpress dashboard. Qumana had the added annoyance of crashing frequently. And even though I’m an obsessive saver, my work was lost at each crash.
Enter the proverbial 800lb gorilla- Microsoft. Windows Live Writer is simple to install- just download and run one .msi file and you’re done. The weblog setup was the easiest I’ve seen yet- just enter your blog’s URL, your username and password and voila! Windows Live Writer is smart enough to figure out the rest. At least, that’s how it worked on this site. I haven’t yet tested it with Movable Type.
Once it’s time to start writing your first post, everything is pretty straightforward. The interface has a very modern Windows feel to it. I like it. The editor is WYSIWYG, just like the Wordpress dashboard, and has all the features you would expect, including pictures, lines, lists, fonts. and different headers. The link tool makes it easy to add rel=tag or rel=nofollow to any link.
There’s a collapsible tab at the bottom where you can turn comments or trackbacks off if you want, as well as send any trackbacks. Select your category from a pull down box on the right and hit publish, and you’re done.
Windows Live Writer Bugs
For some reason, my post title keeps disappearing every few minutes. It also doesn’t stay when I load a saved draft.
Some people have reported a category bug, though it seems to be related to a very large number of categories.
Will I switch to Windows Live Writer?
Maybe. I’m going to write my next few posts with it so I can continue to feel it out. I do like having access to all my blogs from one place.
Are any of you using Windows Live Writer? What are your thoughts?
8 Comments
August 15th, 2006 at 2:20 pm
I downloaded Windows Writer Sunday night. I used it Monday and Tuesday to post my blog, and I love it. It intergrated perfectly with Wordpress. I can do many more things now than I could before with the default writer. I don’t like to get to fancy but it’s nice to be able to easily underline text or change text color. It also has a built in spellchecker. I haven’t had a single problem with it.
I have never been a Microsoft hater, or lover, but this software is exactly what I needed. So, good job Microsoft.
I also found a Flickr plugin for it that I am using. It’s at http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2006/08/14/13277.aspx .
August 15th, 2006 at 7:07 pm
I love creating my posts with Windows Live Writer, but it has definately been giving me a fit with the titles. I’m not sure why, or if it’s just my computer causing the problem. I’ll need to test it on another computer to see what’s going on.
I’m gonna check out that flickr plugin - the plugin feature might just be the killer feature on this program. We’ll have to see if a lot of plugins get created. This could be huge.
August 15th, 2006 at 7:10 pm
Ok I think I figured out the title problem on my end. Apparently Windows Live Writer hates when I use my convertible tablet in tablet mode. It works fine when I use it in laptop mode… but in tablet mode it keeps erasing my title. I have -no- clue why. Is anyone else seeing this?
August 15th, 2006 at 7:21 pm
I’m glad you found out what was causing the title problem. I haven’t had any issues, but I’m using it from my desktop computers.
You’re right about the plugins. It will be interesting to see what people come up with.
August 16th, 2006 at 5:39 am
“Are any of you using Windows Live Writer? What are your thoughts?”
I have not tried it yet but after reading your entery, I am interested to use it. What about uploading pictures? Does it work well with Blogger?
August 16th, 2006 at 12:46 pm
Razib,
I haven’t yet tested it with Blogger-I’ll try to do that this weekend, and I’ll post my results.
August 20th, 2006 at 11:47 am
Works (including the inking plug in) fine also with pictures. I am using Blogger with the blog on my own server.But the floating TIP (Tablet PC) works only in HTML view mode. Others having the same problem?
August 21st, 2006 at 11:59 am
Koloman - good to hear that it works well on Blogger.
I’m going to download the inking plugin and check it out now. I’ll update with my thoughts once I have some time to feel it out.
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