RBUGAJEWSKI Ive searched a long time for a blog editor, because I cant look at the ugly web interfaces of some blog engines anymore. Its not only about visual design, but also about system integration. What I most often miss in the web browser is easy drag and drop and some common OS functions. Through my search I came across three blogging applications for the Mac: ecto, MarsEdit and myBlogEdit. ecto has a very cluttered interface and since another party bought the software it doesnt seem to be actively developed. This wasnt a good choice for me. If I buy something and pay money I want to see good support in return. I checked MarsEdit and myBlogEdit and both developers update their software on a regular basis. The functionality I need seems to be present in both applications, MarsEdit and myBlogEdit, so I downloaded both of them and tried each of them a couple of days long. While MarsEdit is fast and polished, it just doesnt feel right for me. Theres really nothing wrong about it, but it just doesnt work with the style of workflow I have. The last candidate in my review was myBlogEdit and while it provided the functionality I need, it had also a very natural and intuitive interface. After the first couple of minutes I felt like at home and it was a great overall experience. I also tried a couple of normal OS features, like drag and drop etc. and everything worked like I expected. I was impressed about the basic image editing capabilities. Now I dont have to do basic image processing steps in another application, I can add it to my blog entry and set the most important preference in myBlogEdit. Im a very code-based person and the second best thing I like about this software are its text editing features. I can use HTML tag templates and use also a couple of sophisticated keyboard shortcuts. This way I can focus on the text I want to write and dont have to switch to the mouse when I feel Im in writing mode. Another feature I like is that I dont need an internet connection to see my blog posts. This way I have something like an local archive of my blog and I dont have to worry if a nasty bug or exploit will delete my online content. Buying myBlogEdit was the best thing I could do to improve my blogging workflow. Thanks so much for the software and the fast, friendly and excellent support! (Version 2.1) |