Jeffrey McManus

I’ve never used any kind of tool for creating blog posts; back when I was using Typepad and for all the Wordpress blogs I run today, I have always edited content in the browser. Editing in the browser always worked and always seemed consistent, no matter where I was or what computer or operating system I was using. But it seems like you always have to give something up when you edit in the browser.

So today while I was installing something else I grabbed Windows Live Writer and installed it on my sole remaining Windows XP machine. This post is the first thing I’ve written using it.

Update: Fixing the broken link; Microsoft rather cluelessly changed the URL of this product from the somewhat sensible writer.live.com to something less memorable.

Update 2: They changed the link again. If Microsoft can’t understand the concept of permalinks, then I’m just not going to link to their stuff anymore. Does this make me a bad guy?

My sense is that 90% of what people want a thick-client word processor for involves spell checking. I’m not in that category (I’m an English major and a champion speller). But this is not bad. I might even install it on the copy of Windows I use on the virtual machine I run on my Mac, for those rare cases when I want to post something long and involved.

One thing I found jarring was Windows Live Writer’s preview feature. When you select Web Preview, your text goes away and a browser containing a preview of your post appears. This is fine, but there’s no obvious way to go back to the editor from here. After I figured out how to go back, Windows Live Writer now displays my original text in a different font. Makes me wonder what else got changed behind the scenes after I hit that preview button.