Six Time-Saving Alternative Blogging Tools

Many a web worker is a blogger, and if you spend much time blogging, you know that it can take a fair amount of time to write on a daily basis. Lately, I’ve been working with several applications featuring tools that can save bloggers time and help manage posts intelligently when they’re in draft form. Most of these are offbeat applications, but I’ve found them useful. I’ll round several of them up here.

Qumana is a good blog editor that you can use with either Windows or Mac OS X. You can save blog posts, edit them offline and hook them up with your blogging application when you’re ready, without having to log in and manage drafts. You can also add tags and trackbacks easily. Everything is WYSIWYG and adding images is a drag-and-drop process.

If you’re a Firefox user, ScribeFire is a great way to compose your blog posts, because you can choose to have it sitting in your browser as either a tab, a separate window or a bottom pane. So it’s instantly accessible if you suddenly have an epiphany for your latest blog post.

If you’re used to using Windows applications and Windows interfaces, Windows Live Writer has an interface that will be very intuitive to you. It integrates directly with WordPress, Blogger, TypePad, Live Journal and other blogging platforms.

CJD Notepad is a plug-in that lets you quickly write and manage notes or draft blog posts, and it integrates with WordPress very well. Via a Write Note screen you can create and edit notes, and a Manage Notes screen lets you edit, delete or create a draft from an entry. Instead of creating a draft post in WordPress, you can use this plug-in to gather and manage notes intended for an eventual blog post. KIN is a similar plug-in for WordPress that makes it quick to write notes.

Finally, although it’s not a dedicated text editor like the other applications in this post, if you regularly need to update and edit HTML and Javascript content on a blog, try TinyMCE. You can integrate it with almost any content management system that you’re used to using, and customize it.

Do you have any good tips on alternative tools for blogging?

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