Windows Live Writer Out of Beta

I’m about a month late for this, but since Windows Live Writer is my favorite blogging client (by far) I figured I’d mention it: Windows Live Writer left beta early in November. In fact, just last week it was announced that updates to the last two betas would be distributed via Windows Updates. That seems to be how I was updated.

There’s some pretty cool stuff in this client. If you’re a Windows user, I’d encourage you give it a shot. Just be awake when installing it and look over all the “default checked” options to ensure you’re not installing any other (perhaps unnecessary) windows live apps as well…

I reckon I write at least 80% of my posts in WLW. I just find it far easier to use than the built-in post editor in WordPress. It works more like a traditional word processor. Image adding is a breeze — I dig that I can copy/paste an image straight into the editor and it’ll handle it. There are multiple views on an article while composing, including a preview. Etc.

Oh, my favorite little feature? “Post Draft and Edit Online”. Takes the article I’ve just composed, sends it up to the blog, opens the default browser to the Post Editor page so everything is ready for final tweaks and adjustments. I try to use this as a final review and opportunity to tag the article before publishing. (Yes, I’m aware that there are tagging plugins for WLW. I prefer how my blog’s tagging plugin works instead)

Here’s a tip: If validating is important to you and your blog is XHTML, be sure to vistion Tools -> Options. Select your blog account and click edit. In the resulting dialog, check out the “Markup Type” section…

I don’t recall XHTML being the default with some of the earlier betas, so if you’ve been upgrading through the betas you might want to check this setting.

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