I have become a bit concerned since the release of Windows Live Writer (WLW).
What I have noticed in testing this new blog editor is that even though it's still a beta, it looks like it will end up blowing away most if not all "stand alone" local wysiwyg type blog editors such as Qumana, BlogWriter, BlogDesk etc, and especially those editors that you have to actually pay for (which usually aren't as good as the ones that come free of charge ironically enough).
Although I don't believe PFF will be "blown away" since it's the only editor that's incorporated into the Firefox browser itself but I do think it may lose some if a couple functions aren't added to this already quality product:
1. The ability to upload pictures from the the user's hard drive directly to the blog hosting service (such as offered by WordPress.com) or by FTP, not just by tagging a url to such as Flickr or Photobucket for example.
2. Also, there's a problem with where WLW stores it's uploaded images in some blog hosting services. I'll use my blog's example (a WordPress.com hosted type).
--This is the url that Wordpress normally stores one of my uploaded images:
http://justhinkin.wordpress.com/files/2006/04/1144022719031.jpg
--This is the url that WLW stores an uploaded image to WordPress.com:
http://justhinkin.wordpress.com/files/2006/09/WindowsLiveWriter/
Secondstainedglasspanel_E9E1/Glass%20Panel2%5B1%5D.jpg
You'll notice that the extra directory, "WindowsLiveWriter", added to the path along with the "Secondstainedglasspanel_E9E1/Glass%20Panel2%5B1%5D.jpg" at the end.
If PFF is used to edit a post (with images) that was originally written and posted using WLW, the text edits will post correctly but, even though PFF seems to be aware of the path to the embedded images in the post that's being edited, once uploaded "as an edit" to the blog, all the images will disappear. Checking the image placeholder "Properties" usually shows the correct WLW path (as above) but the image still does not show. All images have to be uploaded using WLW once again.
What needs to be done I believe, is that on a text only edit of a blog post that was originally written and uploaded from WLW (one with images) is either to have PFF (on uploading an edit) ignore the images and things left unchanged and only upload the changes themselves, merging them into the original post (much like Zoundry's BlogWriter does) or better yet, having PFF recognize and re-establishing the correct image path used by WLW to store images on WordPress.com's server (for exmple).
I think it would be in Performancing's best interest to be compatible with this new editor from MS than it would be not to. I'm sure that before the final release of WLW, they'll have the bugs worked out and have added the "MS Word" style in-line spell checking to the already well established spell checking module already built in WLW as well.
MS would also be extremely smart if they kept it free of charge and programmers out there are already offering "plug-ins" for the missing functions such as tagging, embedding images from Flickr and I found an extension for Firefox that put a "Blog this" function for WLW into the right-click context menu and another WLW plug-in that adds emoticons into your post.
My point is that the last two (the FX extension and the emoticon plug-in) were not available a week ago. More are coming.
This is (surprisingly for MS) a fine first offering that I already enjoy using for my "standalone" editor. Something that I'll always have along with PFF. I couldn't do with just one or the other and PFF is definitely the best when it comes to blogging inside of a browser!
PFF does not need to be able to offer actual blog template downloading (to write upon) or an actual real time blog template preview or all the bells and whistles that WLW currently has or will have in the future, no more than WordPad needs to have all the functions of MS Word (I know, bad comparison). But it would be a very smart thing indeed, in my humble opinion, to be fully compatible with it.
Just a friendly "heads up" for a great team putting out a great product from an "old-timer".
Kirk, Found it :). Yes, very
Kirk,
Found it :).
Yes, very very valid points!
For 1.4 we will have much better image handling (flickr and blog api uploads), more on that later today actually, but anyway, thank you for noticing the WLW image issue.. I'll test it out later on wordpress.com.
I'll fwd you on any test builds when they are ready as I know you are an awesome tester :)
Also any other thoughts or requests for the next version I would most definitely be interested in, thanks so much Kirk!!
-Jed
Good points and I agree
Good points and I agree about the images. I didn't notice those image urls that live writer creates - strange!
Just a "additional" thought
I think I finally have an idea for valid idea for the next or future version.
Include a "Link To:" function in the form of a drop down menu via the toolbar. This would allow for easy linking of a typed word or phrase that's highlighted and "linked to:" a reference site such as Wikipedia for instance.
So let's say I typed "Space Shuttle" into the body of my blog post, highlighted it and hit the "Link to:" button on the toolbar and chose "Wikipedia" from the drop down menu. The resulting code that was generated (under the source tab) would be:
(I left off the beginning and end tags so you can see the code and not just a hyperlink)
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/space%20shuttle">space shuttle
...and the WYSIWYG interface would simply show that the phrase was now a link of course.
The drop down menu could include "link to's" for Wikipedia, Merriam Webster, Google, Digg, YouTube or any of the blog search engines like Technorati etc. You could also have a selection for "Custom tag space" where the user can link to his/her own related reference.
Since a lot of bloggers are trying to make a living or supplemental income off their blogs or at least keeping their readers interested, efficient use of time is probably pretty essential. I believe this additional function would save a fair amount of time that would otherwise be spent (as in the "space shuttle" example) in bringing up Wikipedia, finding the correct article, copying the url from the address bar, highlighting the phrase in your post, clicking the "link" button and pasting the url into the dialog box etc.
Of course the blogger has to proof his/her post before publishing and make sure all the links work but in my experience using this type of function, it finds the correct article/item the majority of the time and as the blogger gains experience on how to properly use the various "Link to;" choices, the more accurate it becomes.
Now I'm going to be honest and let you know that I'm "appropriating" this idea off of another blog editor that I've used but I doubt they hold a patent on it. I found this function to be veerryy convenient and time saving when I wanted to reference a subject I was writing about to various articles, searches, definitions etc.
This may be a little much for the next release but I definitely think it's food for thought. If you have any questions or think my idea is totally off the wall please let me know.
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