From technology to politics to video games; these are the random thoughts of a geek with too much time on his hands

Windows Live Writer is one of a number of blog writing/management tools out there, and personally, it's my favorite.  It's completely free to download and use, works with both Windows XP and Vista.

Grab Live Writer here.

Essentially what Live Writer is, is a word processor for blogs.  Type and format until you're blue in the face.  Spell check, save a copy to work on later, insert rich media easily etc.  It makes writing long and complex blog posts incredibly easy.

Plus, it does auto-thumbnailing of images if you have somewhere to post them.

Configuring Live Writer is the only tricky part, and to do that you need only a few bits of information:

  1. The URL of your blog (i.e. http://zoomba.joeuser.com/ )
  2. Your login information (username/password)
  3. The JoeUser MetaWebBlog API File:
    https://www.joeuser.com/api/MetaWeblog.axd

Now, once you have Live Writer downloaded and installed, it's time to start it up and configure it to connect to your blog.

Configuring Live Writer

When you start Live Writer for the first time, it will ask to create a new weblog account.  If it doesn't, just go to the Weblog menu and select "Add Weblog Account" from the bottom of the list.

You'll see this window:

image

To start, you'll want to select "Another weblog service" since neither of the other options applies.

Click next.

image

Now enter the URL for your blog, and your login information.  I suggest you check the box to save your password.

Click next.

image

It will briefly try and detect some settings.  You'll then be told to select a provider.

Select Metaweblog API from the drop-down list, and enter this into the Remote posting URL field:

https://joeuser.com/api/MetaWeblog.axd

Click Next.

Now it will try and detect your blog theme  and ask you if you want to create a temporary post.  Click no.  JoeUser does not support this feature.

And you're done!  Just make sure you have your JoeUser blog selected from the Weblog menu before you start writing blogs to publish.


Using Windows Live Writer

Using Live Writer is incredibly easy.  You can almost treat it as a regular word processor.

Here's a quick look at the major parts of the Live Writer interface:

lwriter

The most important parts are the Publish Button, the Writing Area and the Category List.

The first line you see in the Writing area is your blog title.  Live Writer unfortunately doesn't support subtitles like JoeUser does, so you'll have to edit those in on the site later if you want to include one.

Write your blog, format it however you like, go crazy.  When you're done, make sure you have a category selected from the list, and then hit publish.  After a few seconds, the post will be done and you'll automatically be taken to your article on the site.

It couldn't be easier!

You can also edit previously posted articles by selecting them from the "Recently Posted" list on the right bar.  It will download your post from the site, allow you to edit it in LiveWriter and then update it.

It's important to note that this will only work with articles originally posted via LiveWriter.

Well, those are the basics.  Later on I'll put up a tutorial on advanced topics like uploading images, special formatting settings etc.


Comments (Page 2)
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on Feb 28, 2008

This is quite shocking...multiple people shouting the benifits of a Microsoft product. I might just have to give it a go.

on Feb 28, 2008
It doesn't seem to support sub-categories. Ie, you can select OS Customization, but you can't select a category below that.


It should now.  You might have to go into the account preferences and update the categories first.


on Feb 28, 2008

Zoomba,

    It will not post for me. I also did not get the option to select a "provider." I can find no plce to set that in my preferances. This is the error that gets kicked out to me...

 

Server Error 0 Occurred

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

 

Any help you could give would be appreciated.

on Feb 29, 2008

Just used it for the first time.  WOW!  I have moved up from bear skins and stone knives!

You are the Zoomba!!!!!!!

on Mar 01, 2008
commenting because it just took me 20 minutes to find this thread and I may want to find it again.


on Mar 01, 2008
This is quite shocking...multiple people shouting the benifits of a Microsoft product. I might just have to give it a go.


We are pod people.

Seriously, it is a great product!
on Mar 04, 2008
I'm getting the Server Error 0 problem also.

Apparently this happens if you delete a published post and then try to repost it.

Of course, that's GOING to happen since Live Writer doesn't provide an "edit last post" option.

This is a COMPLETE show stopper as I've not yet found a fix. Useless.
on Mar 04, 2008
I'm getting the Server Error 0 problem also.


This is an issue with setting sub-categories.  Just select something like Personal Computing, not Personal Computing>Windows, or something like that.

It's a known issue and a fix is coming soon.


on Apr 05, 2008

Hey, I tried all of that, and then went to post something here, and....nothing, it wont post. Is it cause of my status as a "visitor"? j/w

on Apr 15, 2008

Uhh, help anyone? Now I realize I can't post at all. I used to be able to anyway. Would someone help me, please?

on Apr 17, 2008

Sweet program.

But what's with the girl looking longingly at the doofus next to her on the download page for the program? I don't get it.

on Apr 17, 2008

ok its telling me I don't have an active blog,.. but I posted thru it three days ago, and I accessed this page thru my blog page.... any thoughts?

btw,if you have certain software installed for firewalls and security, you might have to pause them during initial installation of the product.

on Apr 17, 2008

just posted a  new article and it's still saying I don't have an active blog... what gives?

on Apr 17, 2008

just posted a new article and it's still saying I don't have an active blog... what gives?

Make sure your blog url is this: http://wulfn1.joeuser.com/

I noticed on your profile you had it listed as www.wulfn1.joeuser.com.

 

on May 23, 2008

misterME


Sweet program.
But what's with the girl looking longingly at the doofus next to her on the download page for the program? I don't get it.

Yeah, don't get it myself either

 

All my posts and articles are done by Live Writer too, and I've added a comment on it in a recent article myself. BTW, I had no problem using it here.

jdkeepsmiling


This is quite shocking...multiple people shouting the benifits of a Microsoft product. I might just have to give it a go.

Won't get to see that again in a million years, but Microsoft does make a good product once in a decade...

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