Some folks simply can’t stand utilizing the web-based editing tools that come along with applications like WordPress. I don’t blame them… I gave up on the rich editing tool years ago and simply write my own HTML in my blog posts. There is another alternative for Microsoft Windows users that I was showing a client tonight, though… Windows Live Writer.
Windows Live Writer has been around for a few years now and WordPress has the built in API to enable it to communicate. You can even download your theme to Windows Live Writer so it appears you’re writing directly to your blog’s look and feel.
The first step is setting up the ability to publish your drafts and posts via the Internet. This is accomplished in the Settings > Writing section of the WordPress administration:
Next, you’ll want to download Windows Live Essentials 2011. There are quite a few applications that will be set to load by default with Live Essentials… I’d uncheck all the optional applications so you can simply get Live Writer installed:
Once installed, open Live Writer and select your blogging platform – WordPress in this case:
The last step is to connect with your blog. You should only have to type your blog URl, your username and password and it should connect fine. When asked, I’d recommend downloading your blog theme so that you get a true look and feel to your blog posts when writing them.
Once Live Writer downloads your theme and categories, you should be good to go!
Give it a test run by selecting your blog from the menu and adding a blog post. Then send it to the blog as a draft. Login to WordPress, click on Posts and you should see your draft there!
everything works fine for my windows live to wordpress, however when I insert a picture and upload to the blog, on the wordpress side I get simply what looks like HTML code. Can you explain how to fix this???
Not sure K Milloy – but it may be an encoding issue. There’s some information at WordPress, though: http://codex.wordpress.org/Windows_Live_Writer_Help