The Office Gal

The blogging world has tremendous amounts of options sprouting daily for bloggers of all levels to showcase their talent and reap the rewards with social networking. You post on mine, if I post on yours. Basically, that is exactly how it works, from new additions like Sk-rt, Mom Blog Network, and Cre8buzz, these communities allow you to read an article or blog and then give you the opportunity to vote for those you like - post, blog, or both.

Want to know another great way for bloggers to network? A blog party! That is exactly what 5 Minutes for Mom is offering to other bloggers, a blog party that could potentially lead thousands of readers to your blog, flourishing you with comments and feedback. Then all you need to do is return the favor.

The concept behind the blog party is for bloggers to create a post on their blog showcasing the person they truly are. Add poems, pictures, funny stories, jokes - well, you get the idea - spruce up your place. Then for one week, bloggers will travel the list of those bloggers that have joined, reviewing their blog, reading their posts, and making comments. Then the following week, you post on your blog about your experience and share some of your favorite blogs, linking back to them. Viola!

This opportunity is a fun approach to meeting others in the blogging world. Not only might you find some loyal readers of your blog, but you could make life-long friends as well. Stop by 5 Minutes for Mom and review the instructions for the 2008 Ultimate Blog party. This party is just not for moms, but it is only for women - sorry guys.

Take a peek at other ways to network.

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If you haven’t read The Right Tool For Blogging - Part 1 click here.

OK… so, I downloaded Windows Live Writer and gave it a whirl now it is time for Blog Desk.

Blog Desk Offline Weblog Editor

Well, right off the bat, the look is much different - very basic, but that doesn’t mean bad. I am using Blog Desk now to write this post and writing and formatting is not different then Windows Live Writer. You are still given the same excellent features - creating links, adding pictures, creating tags for Technorati, and even a space for trackbacks. Still a very usable, friendly format.

I do like that you are able to save your post as a file for future reference or to use as a backup, just in case. Windows Live Writer gave me the option to Save As Draft , but I could not save it as a file for backup.

One big that I noticed with Blog Desk is when you first begin set-up it does not automatically begin the process to set-up your first blog. You will need to manually set up your first blog by going to File - Manage blogs .

I did try the Preview view several times to see what my post would look like once uploaded, but it would not give me a preview on the actual blog page. Unfortunately, that is one reason why I might not continue to use this editor.

Honestly, there aren’t many difference between the two editors that I can see other than the visual and view options, both worked extremely well and I would say that it will come down to personal opinion which editor you choose.

So there you have it, a simple look at both the Blog Desk and Windows Live Writer offline weblog editors. Go take a peek at the sites for yourself and see which one will work best for you. I do suggest that you download them both and do a couple of test runs because this will be your best process to decided which one is best for you.

I do want to thank Jennifer Chait and Freelance Writing Jobs for discussing offline editors in her post Help My Post Vanished! Jennifer’s post gave me the idea to take this little journey.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Learning about a new tool for blogging is as wonderful as opening a present up on Christmas morning; exhilaration as you rip open the wrapping to find a box full of – gift cards. OK, so I am a bit difficult to buy gifts for, but there is nothing difficult about the choice to switch to an offline weblog editor.

Although offline weblog editors are not new, I just recently learned of this tool and so far I am pleased with what I am seeing. Currently, I use Word to write all of my posts and then upload into my blog. Formatting of pictures and links are usually always lost and re-working can become frustrating and time consuming. So, when I heard of the editors, I needed to give them a look see.

Two editors commonly used for Windows operating systems are Blog Desk and Windows Live Writer. I wanted to make sure that I gave them both a fair chance to win me over, so I have downloaded both to give them a test drive. This post - Part 1 - has been created with Windows Live Writer. See below for my thoughts.

Windows Live Writer

Downloading was extremely easy and the look is traditional Windows theme. I am actually using the Windows editor right now and so far, so good. One feature that I really like is the Web Preview view. Yes, you are given several view options in Word, but this particular view allows me to see exactly what my post will look like once in my blog.

There are of course all the bells and whistles like adding pictures, inserting links, videos, and tables plus you have the added feature of looking through additional plug-ins to gain more options. The wonderful thing about editors, you won’t lose formatting once you upload to your blog. Wonderful! Another great feature, Writer will publish your post for you directly into your blog, so no having to open up the blog editor to copy.

The only issue so far - the Web Layout view. When I chose this view to type in it skews the look of my post. I have yet to have a clear view of what I am typing. I thought this was a downloading issue, so it was removed and downloaded again, same results. After writing this post, I realized the view really depends on the theme that used for your blog. So, if you choose to use Windows Live Writer just be aware that you might have an issue with this view. All in all, I am very pleased with this editor.

OK…now on to Blog Desk.

Click here for The Right Tool For Blogging - Part 2. 

I do want to thank Jennifer Chait and Freelance Writing Jobs for discussing offline editors in her post Help My Post Vanished! Jennifer’s post gave me the idea to take this little journey.

Popularity: 9% [?]