Live Writer is free blog editing software from Microsoft. It was created for the Windows Live community but it works with a number of blogging platforms like WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, SharePoint, and Community Server.

I’ve been using Live Writer for over 2 years now and it is how I manage this blog and all the other blogs I publish. Which brings up another useful aspect of Live Writer, it allows you to manage multiple blogs neatly in one program. And I know a few artists who manage multiple blogs. Writer formats its editing screen to look like the blog you are publishing to so that you are able to see what your post looks like before you publish the post. This also helps me keep my blogs straight.

I like using it because it allows me to work on my blog posts while I am offline. And for me that means less distractions. I also keep my working drafts stored within Writer. This means when I open Writer I get a list of posts I am working on listed to the right of the workspace. Writer also has many easy to use features that are better than the default WP post editor. You can easily adjust the font, text color, text size, numbered lists, and bullet points, just to name a few. The real benefit though comes when you want to add images, tables, maps, or videos. Live Writer makes placing these and adjusting these a breeze. You can also make simple edits to images like rounded corners (which I dig) or sepia tone (which I don’t dig).

WordPress users are accustomed to using plugins to add function to their blog. Live Writer also has the option of plug-ins to add even more functions to the blog editor. These help a writer incorporate things like Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, as well as further customize your posts. I personally do not use any plug-ins in Writer but they are an option.

If you decide to give Live Writer a try you’ll need to make a small adjustment in your WordPress dashboard before you connect Live Writer to your blog. Under “settings” click on “writing” and look for “Enable the WordPress, Movable Type, MetaWeblog and Blogger XML-RPC publishing protocols.” and check the box, hit “save change” and you should be good to go.

Give Live Writer a try, it is free and makes publishing to your blog a little bit easier. Mac users can check out Blogo which is blog editing software designed for Mac.

WordPress For Artists | Windows Live Writer is a post from: Art Palaver The Artist Marketing Resource.

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