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Overview: 5 blogging clients for Windows and OS X

The following overview lists the supported blogging platforms, features, license (4/5 are free), a summary and screenshots for 5 blogging clients. I should also mention, 3/5 work in Linux too.

In my never-ending quest to find a blogging client that I really like, I’ve downloaded, installed and used the following 5 blogging clients: Qumana, ecto, Flock, WriteToMyBlog and ScribeFire. Because I’m very picky, none of them will replace Homesite+ (via CrossOver for OS X), but you may find one you love.

If you use and love a different blogging client, please let me know which one (and if it works in OS X) via the comments.

Qumana

Platforms: Windows XP, OS X
Download: http://www.qumana.com/download.htm
Supports: WordPress, Movable Type, Drupal, Blogger, LiveJournal, Serendipity, Xaraya, GeekLog and others.
License: free
Features: Of all the blogging clients I’ve tried so far, Qumana is the one most likely to replace Homesite+ (via CrossOver for OS X). Some of its many features include:

WYSIWYG editor, as easy as email

Clean interface with easy-to-understand buttons

Spell check with ‘as you type’ option

Insert keyword ads in one click (but only with Qumana’s ad program)

Technorati tagging

Customize ad design

Source view option to edit HTML

Save posts as drafts, or edit old posts, from the Blog Manager

Easy image uploads and image alignment

DropPad – gather links, text, and pictures by dragging them to a desktop pad

Offline editing

Multi-window editing

Seamless posting and cross-posting

Trackback & pinging

Thoughts: I’ll admit it, the first thing I thought when using Qumana was “ah – this is just an app that they’ve developed to get people to use their ad system”. And that may be the case, but Qumana is actually a very solid blogging client. Again, the source view keeps me from wanting to use this regularly, but if you’re a WYSIWYG fan, you should seriously considering checking out Qumana. And the cost is certainly right.

Screenshots:

Blog posts display	Create a new post

Preferences	Upload and/or insert images

WYSIWYG post view	Source post view

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ecto

Platforms: Windows, OS X
Download: http://ecto.kung-foo.tv/
Supports: Blogger, BlogHarbor, BlogWare, Blojsom, Blosxom, Cocolog, Conversant, Drupal, GeekLog, IlohaBlog, LiveJournal, MovableType, Nucleus, pMachine, pyblosxom, Serendipity, SquareSpace, TypePad, WordPress.
License: 21 day fully functional trial, $17.95 after that
Features: There are too many to list here, but some of the highlights of the OS X version include:

support for multiple weblogs and servers (with easy-to-use Account Manager)

full local control of recently posted entries and drafts (with search function)

a Rich Text and an HTML editor with spellcheck and search/replace

syntax-coloring in the HTML editor

quick access menu with HTML tag templates and keyboard shortcuts for the HTML editor (fully customizable)

full-featured HTML-rendered preview of entries using Safari’s WebKit

powerful file and media upload with iPhoto import via attachments

convert, scale images and create thumbnails

create poster movies or create thumbnails from movie frames

save settings on a per-blog basis

send notifications by email (with Address Book support)

insert details of the currently playing iTunes song in your entry

hate the metal and icons? Set the window texture via the Preferences window and change icons with the supplied switcher!

support for del.icio.us, the social bookmarks manager

Thoughts: Of all the blogging clients reviewed here, this is the only one that isn’t free. With that said, there’s a 21 day fully functional demo available, so you can certainly try it before you buy it. And $17.95 is very reasonable. For me, the syntax-coloring in the HTML editor is a major selling point.

Screenshots:

Default View	Create/edit a post

Preferences	Source View

WYSIWYG view

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Flock

Platforms: Windows, OS X, Linux
Download: http://flock.com/download/
Support: LiveJournal, recommended: WordPress, TypePad, Blogger
License: open source (free)
Features: Flock isn’t just a blogging client, it’s a web browser built on the fast and secure Mozilla technologies. Some of its many features include:

The photobar allows you to mark photostreams as a favorite and find out when they have new photos.

Integrated Photobucket sub-album and Flickr set browsing and uploading. Allow users to refine photos displayed in photobar by album.

Photo uploading now supports multiple operations such as cropping and rotating.

Search now includes live web results.

My News allows you to subscribe to RSS feeds, be notified when they have new articles, and read them quickly, including saving them for later.

The blog editor uses the native Mozilla editor, and has better support for various blog platforms.

The Star button also allows you to mark photostreams as favorites and add RSS feeds to your news. Favorites can be shared and Flock supports the syncing favorites.

Thoughts: Flocks user base is rapidly growing, and the recent updates have added a much higher level of stability. I tried it out a few versions ago and wasn’t entirely impressed. The new features and increased stability make this a browser/blogging client to be reckoned with. If I used Flickr for my blog I would seriously consider using this as my primary blogging client.

Screenshots:

Default browsing view	Image clipboard

Blogging settings	WYSIWYG view

Source view	My News (RSS) view

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WriteToMyBlog

Platforms: all that support IE or Firefox
Homepage: http://writetomyblog.com/
Download: n/a
Supports: Blogger.com, TypePad, WordPress.com, WordPress and Movable Type. Also supports the MetaWeblog and Atom API protocols
License: free
Features: WriteToMyBlog is a web based blog “client”. Its features include:

Creating Post entries with an advanced word processor (TinyMCE based) and have them published directly to your Blog

Advanced text styling.

Easily insert your Flickr photos.

Easily insert YouTube videos.

Customize the word processor toolbar.

Add tables to your Posts.

Easy tagging.

Multilingual AJAX spellchecker.

Thoughts: It’s a pretty cool idea. The ability to post to multiple blogs is cool – but since I don’t do that, it’s not a ’stand-out’ feature for me. Since there’s a TinyMCE plugin for WordPress that turns the default WordPress editor into pretty much the same thing as WriteToMyBlog (and I use WordPress) – this isn’t a “client” that I’ll be using.

Screenshots:

Create a new post	Unrequested feature

Flickr integration	Retrieve recent posts

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ScribeFire

Platforms: all that support Firefox
Download: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1730
Supports: WordPress, Movable Type, Drupal, Blogger, LiveJournal, Windows Live Spaces, Jeeran and others.
License: free
Features: ScribeFire (previously Performancing) is a full-featured blog editor that integrates with your browser (Firefox) and lets you easily post to your blog. You can drag and drop formatted text from pages you are browsing, take notes, and post to your blog.
Thoughts: ScribeFire is actually pretty feature-rich, once you go looking for them. Built in FTP support is excellent, and opening in a Tab vs. sharing a window is very helpful. It’s the source editor that I don’t like. Formatting gets altered (for me) when publishing. But it’s very popular, and since it’s a Firefox plugin (easy to install/uninstall) you may want to give it a shot.

Screenshots: