WOW = Windows Live Writer (WLW)!!

How many times has it happened that you were struck with the most amazing idea for your blog post and you logged on to the internet only to find that the server (or whatever that is) is down and then the sluggish browsing speed discouraged you from typing in your world-altering post? Innumerable, right?

And how many times have you sworn in frustration as you spent more time aligning pictures and videos on your blog than writing? Again, you have lost count, haven’t you?

What if I told you that there is a way to avoid all these afore mentioned problems? Would you be happy? And yes there is! Microsoft has come up with Windows Live Writer to help us frustrated bloggers out of the blogging-mess we sometimes land ourselves into.

Before you start scratching your head wondering what in the world Windows Live Writer is, let me explain (that is what I am here for). The Windows Live Writer is an application that allows you to publish posts to your blog without having to take the trouble of signing in to the actual blog. Is that it? No. That is just the definition in short, but it does not present the various exciting features Windows Live Writer provides.

What Is So Exciting About Windows Live Writer?

When you have an amazing idea for a blog post, you don’t want to navigate through several pages to publish the post. All you want to do is type in the post and click “Publish”. I have used many blogging platforms (including blogger, WordPress, blog.com, blog.co.in). Most blogging platforms take you to a “Dashboard” first, from where you navigate to your “Write Post” page. The exception to this design is WordPress, which provides an “Express Publish” widget on the dashboard, minus the many functionalities you need to make use of in order to format your post.

Windows Live Writer makes it easy for you to manage your blog in a simple 1-2-3 way. You first set up your blog by providing Live Writer with your blog URL and the username and password that you use to login to your blog. Live Writer automatically retrieves information about your blog, such as the theme you are currently using, your blog categories and tags. Once the blog account is set up with Live Writer, you are ready to go!

Inserting Pictures and Videos Made Easier

Forget about slow loading dialog boxes whenever you want to upload a picture. Since Live Messenger is installed on your computer, you can insert pictures and photo albums in a jiffy.. or even less. To add videos, you simply need to specify the video URL from the internet. Alternatively, you can let Live Writer upload your video on to “Youtube” and embed it in to your blog post. Picture resizing is done by simply dragging the borders! To top it all, Live Writer also allows you to insert tables! To top it all, there are about 134 plug-ins that can be used with Windows Live Writer. Care to have a look?

Wait! Do I Need To Learn To Use Live Writer Now?

Are you cringing away from Live Writer because you do not want to learn to use an entirely new software all over again? Don’t tell me that you are not comfortable with using Microsoft Word! If you are, then you are more than ready to use Live Writer, which has the familiar interface. You just need to type in your post and click “Publish”, or if you’d rather schedule the post to be published later, you may do so too, just like on your blog!

OK So What Blogging Platforms is Live Writer Compatible With?

Live Writer can be used to manage a blog at just about any platform, such as blogger, WordPress, Live journal, TypePad, even blog.co.in. You can also set up Live writer with multiple blogs, in case you have more then one blog! In fact, I am using Windows Live Writer to publish this very post! See the result?

To download Windows Live Writer, click here.