SeanDareOnline.com

I was reading ZDNet yesterday and one article, Your turn: Readers choose their 10 favorite Windows programs, caught my eye. In the article the author, Ed Bott, discusses ten programs that many Windows users will find helpful. One of the programs he mentions is a blogging client called Windows Live Writer by Microsoft. As a matter of fact he even says it is one of the best blogging clients available. (Which surprises me considering it’s from Microsoft) Not only did he say it was great, he pointed to other bloggers who love it as well. I had to check it out.

Microsoft offers Windows Live Writer for free along with a group of Windows Live Applications via a Windows Live Application installer much like Google Apps. I only installed Windows Live Writer so I cannot speak to the other applications available within the Windows Live Installer.

What does Windows Live Writer offer that makes it useful? The best way to answer that question is to use an example that every one knows, email. Using the WordPress default blogging method means using their web interface. This is like emailing using a web based service like Hotmail or GMail. You log into your blog, in this case SeanDareOnline.com, and one of the tools you have available to you is a text box where you can write your blog post. The screen is white and the text is black, and you have no idea how your post will look until you preview it.

Using Windows Live Writer is like using Outlook or Thunderbird to write an email. Since Windows Live Writer is installed on your computer it responds faster to mouse clicks than the web interface does. It also allows you to create a post without being online. You can write a post anywhere at anytime, like at the park, and upload it later when you have an Internet connection. But the best part is the text window in which you write your post. It emulates the look and feel of your blog exactly. I am typing this post in a window with the dark water background and gray text just like my blog page display. This allows me to see exactly how my entry will look as I write it, which in turn allows me to make changes on the fly. This will be especially helpful when I insert pictures or video and I have to adjust the text and picture size to get the look I want. In short it streamlines the post writing process.

Another great feature is portability. As you all know I like portable applications. I am always on the look out for a new and interesting portable app to add to my USB drive. Microsoft doesn’t make Windows Live Writer in a portable format, but that doesn’t mean it can’t work as one. I performed a Google search and found Steve Fossett’s blog “Tech Life Blogged” which gives instructions on how to use Windows Live Writer from a USB drive. So now I can not only write a blog post from anywhere I have my laptop, I can write a post from any Windows PC. Cool huh?

I know you will not see a difference in the appearance of the blog, but using a program like Windows Live Writer will make it a lot easier to write posts. I can’t wait to try out all the features it offers.

- Sean