For the past few years, I’ve been composing and editing most blog entries directly on the web inside my browser via the WordPress installation that runs Gravitationalpull.net. Every now and then, I get burned when the browser crashes or loses web connectivity after I’ve written a big chunk of unsaved text. It also means that if I want to write a blog post offline, I’m stuck with a basic editor like TextEditor and I’m doing any HTML formatting from memory. Editing existing entries or fixed pages under this approach requires being online.
So a bit fed up with these limitations, I’m giving an offline blog editor called MarsEdit a spin. It’s the latest version, 3.0.
When you first set up the program, it downloads a bunch of recent posts and all your pages onto your hard drive. You can edit your previous posts and pages at your leisure — even without connectivity — and MarsEdit can sync them to your blog later. As a tinkerer (or phased perfectionist, I like to say) by temperament, that’s very appealing.
The basic editing screen is very straightforward and gives a code-level view of the post or page you are working on. There’s a separate live preview screen. I like being able to write in code and see the result at the same time. With WordPress, if you’re in code view you can’t also see the results in realtime. There’s also a handy drop down list of 15 or so frequently-used HTML codes like bold and links that can be easily inserted around selected text with a click. Categories are listed on the right and there’s an open space to add any tags you’d like.
Here’s a view of the editing window on the left and the preview window on the right
The preview isn’t quite perfect. For example, it doesn’t accurately show the automatic spacing between text and the picture of the MarsEdit icon as it appears on my blog via the theme I’m using. The program includes the ability to monkey with the preview template but that’s a little beyond my skills, I fear. But it’s good enough.
You can also easily incorporate pictures and graphics into posts and MarsEdit does all the behind-the-scenes work to upload the files and insert the proper links. The photo picker lets you look through libraries of popular programs like iPhoto and Lightroom in addition to just selecting files off your hard drive. That can really come in handy if you know a picture you want to use is in an iPhoto album, say, but you have no idea where the file for that photo actually resides on your computer. There’s also integration with Flickr which I didn’t test as I don’t use the site.
All in all, MarsEdit is a handy program for writing and editing blog posts and pages when you’re off the internets. With a $40 price tag, you have to really need it, though. Thankfully, there is a 30-day free trial in which all features are enabled.
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