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Archive for the ‘Program to Try’ Category

I just found Blogging Ease.

Thursday, March 10th, 2011

 

It seems to me that the second biggest hurdle to blogging is the ease of use factor. Before today, when I wanted to write a blog post I had to think about it, gather my images and content, go to the web site, log in, wrestle with the blog interface, struggle with uploading images, and eventually hit “post” after previewing and altering a draft version 5 or 6 times.

 

The first hurdle for me is coming up with an idea or topic to write about.

Example Picture to the left: (very easy to insert images)

Fortunately, today I have found a solution to both of these problems… hopefully.

This article you’re reading is being created with a program that you veteran bloggers have probably been using for years but I’ve just discovered.  It’s called “Windows Live Writer” and it comes as part of  a FREE Windows Essentials Pack.

Windows Live Writer is a stand alone program that will simply post content to your blogs.  But the great thing is that the interface just feels better.  Inserting images is a breeze. And formatting text, creating links, spell checking, adding tags and video clips seems just, well, sort-of natural; like a MS Word environment.

Writer also has a live preview feature that allows you to see exactly how the post is going to look on your site. It’s a simple click of a button.

But the greatest thing is that I have found browser plug-ins for the program.  The program install automatically creates an IE plug-in, but there are also plug-ins available for FireFox as well. I can now simply highlight a section of text on any website, click the little icon in my browser and it automatically opens the program, inserts the highlighted text, and titles the article for me. How convenient is that?

How to Install

 

Conclusion

So, if you are a blogger or like to try out new blogging tools, take a look at Windows Live Writer.  So far, I love it.  But I’ll post more after using it a few time and let you know what I think then.

Do you have any experience with this program?  Has it helped your blogging out?  Let me know in the comments below.

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Notepad++ (A programming life saver)

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

NotePad++ (Free Software)

I haven’t created a blog in a while because… well there’s not that much to say.  However, today I came across this great new little program that I know is going to revolutionize the way I create websites and edit code.  It’s called “Notepad++”

This little piece of software is just like notepad for windows… but oh so much more.

For code junkies like me this program color codes the different types of text in the document for easy visual reference.  Not only that, it also prints in color.  Add “tabbed browsing” style document management,  intelligent collapsible content sections and the ability to install plugins  and you have yourself a monster of a program.

The other great thing I noticed right away is that you have the option to put a “Context menu” selector in windows explorer.  This allows you to simply right-click on a file to open it in Notepad++. That is extremely handy.

Now, I’ve only been using this program for about 15 minutes, so I have yet to see what it can really do when put through the paces. But so far I’m giving Notepad++ an A++ .

Actually, install was a little tricky because I always look at the wall of available files to download and think… “which one do I actually need”. But without too much trouble I found the file called “installer” and that was the end of my confusion.

Great little program. I think I will get MUCH use out of it in the future.

Download Here… http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm  (Sort of a freaky website, but don’t let that deture you.)

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