15+ Alternatives to Your Boring Blog Editor

October 29, 2007

Are you tired of your blog’s default post editor? So am I, and being the kind person that I am, I have put together a list of 15+ blog editor alternatives so you don’t have to put up with that jerk of a editor (excuse the pun). I especially love desktop-based blog editors because they let me write and edit posts offline and off-browser, which minimizes distractions and maximizes productivity. Online editors are also more feature-rich than boring ol’ default post editor in WordPress.

Desktop-based blog editors

1. Qumana Blog Editor - Qumana is an easy-to-use desktop blog editor, enabling you to write, edit and post to one or more blogs.

2. Windows Live Writer - Windows Live Writer Beta is a desktop application that makes it easy to publish rich content to your blog.

3. w.bloggar - The w.bloggar is an application that acts as an interface between the user and one or more blog(s); in other words, it is a Post and Template editor, with several features and resources that the browser based blog editors do not offer.

4. BlogMate - BlogMate is a free, graphical plug-in (+ a bundle too) for the popular TextMate editor that enables creating and editing blog posts for MetaWeblog-enabled blogs, Twitter, and Jaiku accounts from a floating palette within TextMate.

5. BlogDesk - BlogDesk is totaly free of charge and optimized for the blog systems WordPress, MovableType, Drupal, Serendipity and ExpressionEngine as well as the bloghosters Blogg.de and Twoday.net.

6. Bleezer - Bleezer is a powerful blogging client. And it’s free.

7. Post2Blog - Post2Blog 3 is a FREEWARE handy blog editor with live spell-checking support for pro-bloggers.

8. The Zoundry Blog Writer - The Zoundry Blog Writer™ is a full featured editor that makes posting to your blog easier and faster.

9. Thingamablog - Thingamablog is a cross-platform, standalone blogging application that makes authoring and publishing your weblogs almost effortless. Unlike most blogging solutions, Thingamablog does NOT require a third-party blogging host, a cgi/php enabled web host, or a MySQL database. In fact, all you need to setup, and manage, a blog with Thingamablog is FTP, SFTP, or network access to a web server.

10. AIRPress - AIRPress is a rich blog editor based on AIR technology. With AIRPress, you could easily upload media (images, videos, mp3…) without the need of another software or hosting.

Online and browser-based blog editors

11. webpad - webpad is a web-based text editor which gives you access to files from any of the following locations;

Your own computer (via file upload)
The server that webpad is installed on (via direct file manipulation)
Any FTP server (via FTP file operations)
Any website (via remote file requests)
Popular blogging tools (Blogger.com, MovableType, TypePad, LiveJournal, blosxom, WordPress)
Other data sources via a flexible plugin system

12. ScribeFire - ScribeFire (previously Performancing for Firefox) is a full-featured blog editor that integrates with your browser 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.

13. Xinha Here! Firefox Extension - Xinha Here! is a Firefox extension wrapper for the Xinha HTML editor. It enables WYSIWYG editing in any textarea and text box on any website. Xinha Here! opens a Xinha HTML editor in your browser allowing you to edit the data in a WYSIWYG on any website without copying and pasting to secondary HTML editor.

14. Flock - Flock is a social web browser based on Firefox. It lets you easily post anything on your blog with its Blog Editor.

15. WriteToMyBlog - WriteToMyBlog is a free web based word processor for your Blog. Create Post Entries for your Blog from right here, completely free, no membership required, can Post to multiple Blogs simultaneously, manage your Posts, works with all major Blog programs, and is easy-peasy!

16. Google Docs - Free web-based word processor and spreadsheet, which allow you share and collaborate online.

18. WYSIWYG Plugin For Wordpress - This plugin replaces the default Wordpress wysiwyg(what you see is what you get) editor with a more advanced version.

17. FCKEditor for WordPress plugin - This plugin Replaces the default Wordpress editor with FCKeditor.

Tags: ads, blog, blogging, blogs, content, firefox, free, list, online, Productivity, project, Resources, tools, top, wordpress

28 comments so far and counting

RobertOctober 29th, 2007
Wow! What a list! I use to use w.bloggar a year ago, since I was so against using the online web editor since I felt it ‘tied’ me to being online. But now I prefer to just use the online editor since it’s faster and easier.

Thanks for the list!
MohsinOctober 29th, 2007
You are welcome Robert.

I am now a fan of Windows Live Writer because it’s so much easier to use than the default WP editor, and, as I said above, using it keeps the usual distractions of a web browser at bay.
RobertOctober 29th, 2007
I’ll try Windows Live and see how it is.
Caroline MiddlebrookOctober 29th, 2007
I never even considered using anything other than the built in Wordpress editor! To be perfectly honest, I didn’t really know that these alternatives even exitsted. I’ve seen quite a lot of posts tagged with ‘powered by ScribeFire’ but I always thought that was some weird Mac thing Thanks for the eye opener heh!
Scott WatermasyskOctober 30th, 2007
Disclaimer: I work for Telligent who created the site I am about to mention.

There is also BlogMailr which enables you to simply send emails to your blog. It should work for any blog which implements the MetaBlog API.

Having said that, if you use Windows, LiveWriter (IMO) is second to none.

Thanks,
Scott
Steven SnellOctober 30th, 2007
Nice list. I’ve tried 3 or 4 and never settled on any of them. There’s always something that I don’t quite like. I have used Blog Desk more than the others and probably would choose that one first.
Ad TrackerOctober 30th, 2007
Thanks for this list and all the research and effort it took to produce it.

I have been using Windows Live Writer for a couple of months mow and absolutely love it. I may have to try one or two of these others tough. I’m always looking for improvement
Wayne LiewOctober 30th, 2007
I can’t use any offline-to-online editors because I am frequently behind a firewall. Why? This is because I always leech on wireless hotspots. I don’t have a permanent workstation and I don’t like the current situation.

Changing the style of Wordpress editor by installing the Tiger Administration Style plugin is also a good choice.
KarthikOctober 30th, 2007
Nice list - I see you’ve added a few I’ve missed
MohsinOctober 30th, 2007
Robert, great! Let me know how it goes.

Caroline, well, I didn’t know either until I found out WLW and Google Docs. They are both pretty amazing.

Scott, BlogMailr is good too. I discovered it a loooong time ago and had almost forgotten about it. Thanks for bringing it back to my attention.

Steven, right now I am trying WLW and I must admit there are a few things about it that I’d like to see improved. But overall, its good outweighs its bad.

Ad tracker, you are welcome, and DO let me know if you find that one of the other editors are better than WLW
Wayne Liew, in which case, you might want to try out the last two WordPress Plugins that enhance the WordPress WYSIWYG editor.

Karthik, thanks. I’ve tried to be as exhaustive as possible
jsanderzOctober 30th, 2007
Mohsin, that is a great list I will possibly try some of them.
I use a program called pspad which is a text editor and is very good, free and you don’t need to install it.
HASSAN'October 30th, 2007
I use Windows Live writer for my blog.
askMuslims.comNovember 1st, 2007
I probably won’t but i do agree with Caroline
A Blog about NothingNovember 2nd, 2007
Great list, thanks! Personally I use the coffee cup free html editor.
James - DigitalKeyToInfoNovember 8th, 2007
I had not known there were so many options.
I had used one of the WYSIWIGs modified for WordPress till it got messed up a few versions ago.
Since then, I have been using Windows Live Writer and really like it.
I know have a better WYSIWIG built into my themes, but I still like WLW. I like the idea of working offline and having a backup on my computer till it is fully published.
TeejayNovember 12th, 2007
I never even know that there were alternatives to the default one. I have been putting up with the default one all this time.
kristarellaNovember 15th, 2007
Timely post (I know it’s a couple of weeks old, but hey!), I was looking for a desktop program to blog from. Seems like Bleezer and Qumana are the only reasonable ones for mac. Neither of them appeal to me though… Qumana seems so advert obsessed and the icons are very loud, while Bleezer is a java program - I’ve had bad experiences with them.
Apparently MarsEdit is good, but not free!
MarkDecember 23rd, 2007
For those of you trying out LiveWriter, you might want to check the code that it’s posting to your blog. For me is was dead weight that I don’t need. It also seemed more advertising for MS$ than useful and helpful for me. Just another bloated, M$-centric, anti-user app from our friends in Redmond.

Blogdesk is improving, and it close to moving to the top of the list.

Rocketpost is very buggy, and is not well designed. For $100 I expect far more than what they are delivering. Way overpriced.

w.blogger is by far the best app, although it lacks some features that would make it the “killer” app.

Post2Blog is maddening. Whoever designed the interface is clueless. If I didn’t know better I would say they are a spin-off of M$. If you have a large catagory list, avoid this app. You can only see 6 at a time. No, you can not change the size, nor can you change the size of the oversized side bar areas. They are locked and either too small or too big.

Qumana, worst blog editor around. Horrible interface, and barely usable.

Zoundry had a good idea but they have failed to implement it with any precision or speed. Dissapointing.
handy ohne schufaJanuary 15th, 2008
Why should I use a desktop editor? I mean - the internet is made to be edited from everywhere - so isnt this a backward step?
kristarellaJanuary 15th, 2008
handy ohne schufa - perhaps if you only use a desktop computer that’s always connected to the net. What if you have dial-up, or use a laptop on a train, bus, plane, in a room without internet? You can only “edit the internet” if you can connect to it.
vakApril 27th, 2008
nice post about alternatives, thanks!

by the way, to find alternatives try http://dooblet.com it finds alternatives to all things that make sense
My Internet StuffMay 8th, 2008
Great post you have here. Just refer it on my blog here:

http://myinternetstuff.wordpress.com/2008/05/07/free-editors-for-your-blogs/