MSR Consulting TechnoBlog

Windows Live Writer Beta Revealed and Reviewed

August 22nd, 2006

As many of you know I’ve been looking for a decent desktop tool to assist in publishing to my blogs.  As you also know I’ve been sorely disappointed so far in the tools I’ve tested to date (Qumana, w.bloggar, and ecto) with most of them getting thrown into the can after a single post.  In most cases it’s been due to issues with formatting of the posts as they are pushed to WordPress.  The one tool that I’ve stuck with thus far is the Performancing plugin in Firefox.  It works great, it has a small footprint, and it’s easy to use.  In fact I’ve become convinced that having your blogging tool directly inside of your browser is not only convenient, it also makes me much more productive.  But that’s another story for another day.

Well in the midst of all of this testing (and bitching and moaning) Microsoft came along and released Windows Live Writer.  Their very own desktop blogging tool.  So of course, I immediately downloaded it.

As it gets into the mainstream Windows Live Writer will be found and mentioned primarily by others in relation to Windows Live Spaces, the public blog space on the Live community.  But it is also compatible with(untested by me at the moment other than WordPress) Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, and WordPress.  Of course since it supports the underlying API’s that those blog platforms use like Metaweblog API ,  Movable Type API , as well as Really Simply Discoverability (RSD)it should also be compatible with just about everything else.

I’ll be testing Windows Live Writer Beta over the next few days and letting you know whether it’s ready for primetime, as a blog publishing tool in general and for WordPress in particular as that is what this blog runs on.  This review is specifically an overview on basic features, etc.  The most important part to me though is how the actual posts look once they are published.  That will take a little more time to do that final review.  

This article by the way is being written in it, my first one.  So we’ll see how it goes.  In regards to the experience so far I really like the interface, the customizability that you have in regards to creating a template for different blogs and/or posting styles, and the supposed compatibility with various blogging tools (again, haven’t tested on other API’s yet).  Another nice item but slightly more controversial is that it can be tightly integrated into the Windows Live toolbar, another item that I downloaded at the same time and actually like.  What I don’t like so far is that it appears to be a victim of bloat when it comes to memory usage in the background, but as a beta I’ll hold my judgement on that.

A couple of the more unique features are its handling of inline images and insertion of Live Maps.  The images you see in this post where inserted with the tool.  The nice thing is that it will automatically manage thumbnailing and resizing for you.  The images in this post where resized by the tool with a link popping up the full size source image that I handed it.  You’ll also notice that it inserted a watermark for me into the image (lower right corner ‘MSR’).  You can choose dozens of options for imagery and it was certainly more powerful than any other tool I’ve used to date, but also extremely simple.  In fact it was basically automatic unless you wanted to modify the properties.

You can also insert a ‘Live Map’.  Here I have selected the St. Louis Gateway Arch as it always looks cool with its shadow from an overhead satellite shot.  You can choose a regular road map, or an aerial map like the one shown here.  Zoom level is up to you, you can insert push pins like the one I placed on top of the arch, and also add a title.

Saint Louis Gateway Arch

The map then links to full size interactive version of the map at the Windows Live site.  Not a bad balance of adding a useful feature to a blogging tool while also pushing traffic to your own web properties.  I’ve definitely seen more aggregious non-useful uses before.  Besides, if you don’t like it just don’t use it.  Nothing stopping you from inserting whatever tool you prefer instead.

As far as add-on possibilities are concerned I’m impressed with the openness of the API that they’ve developed for the tool, from the rough glance I’ve given it so far it looks pretty straightforward to hook into and add your own plugin for Live Writer.  Should mean some decent gadgets coming down the pipe as the product gets into the mainstream.  I should have really said API’s plural as technically there are really two.  First, there is the “Application API” – For when you want to launch Writer from other applications to “Blog This” for Links, Snippets, Images, or Feed Items and then there is the “Content Source Plugins” to extend the capabilities of Writer to insert, edit, and publish new types of content, for example:

• Images from online photo publishing sites
• Embedded video or audio players
• Product thumbnails and/or links from e-commerce sites
• Tags from tagging services

If this side of Live Writer interests you, you can pick up the Software Development Kit with examples and more at http://g.msn.com/8SEENUS030000TBR/WriterSDK

If you are looking for more general information or assistance I would recommend checking out the authors pages here and here.  There is also a RSS feed now that you can subscribe to at http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/feed.rss

P.S. – I’ve been hearing that it’s been difficult for people to find the download location of Live Writer.  You can download Windows Live Writer directly from the following link here . 

Cheers,

Matt Ridings

MSR Consulting

Entry Filed under: Internet, Internet Marketing, Internet Business Tools