Best Blogging Editor?

Tony just mentioned checking out Office07 as a blogging editor ... personally I'd recommend not going that route.  Office throws some whacked code into the posts ... bleh

The best editor I've found to date is Windows Live Writer ... yup, it's free.

Why I use/recommend it?

THE biggest reason for me is how it handles images. Copy/paste from anything you can get to the clipboard ... move, resize, align, etc all easily.

If there's something better I've not tried it yet ... so let me know if there's something I may have missed.

*note I use TypePad with Live Writer ... haven't tried any other blogging services so YMMV

Comments

[fred]

YMMV? Do you use slickdeals.net? That is the only other place I have seen Your Mileage May Vary!!! If not, you should check it out. There are some really good tech deals up there all the time.

[Andy Rowell]

I'm going to try Windows Live Writer. Thanks for the recommendation. I am also on TypePad.

[Angie Knight]

Jason,
My husband forwarded this to me, and I found it interesting, after reading about image simplicity, that the image in this post would not display for me in IE. It did in Firefox, though. Since the writer is by Windows, I have to wonder if it's my machine... but it still makes me wary.

[Jon Edmiston]

I'm a big Live Writer fan. I especially like the plug-ins for formating code in your post and the ability to manage multiple blogs.

[Cisco]

Hey Jason,

Does the "wack code" have a negative effect on the usability in different browsers? I use IE, Firefox, and Safari and haven't noticed anything. I've been using Outlook 2007 as an RSS reader, but just recently started using Word 2007 as to post to my blogs. I'm all about usability so I'd like to know if the code has a negative effect. If so, I'd look for something else. If not, I prefer Office 2007 because I use it so much. Maybe a matter of preference.

Thanks!
Cisco

[Jack]

Most of the time I compose in raw HTML, but with the release of the new WordPress editor, that may change.

[Tim Smith]

I've been using Windows Live Writer for several months now and am very happy with it. It is far better than online Javascript based editors and faster than writing out the raw code (with my skills at least!). It's not really that essential but it is nice to have the blog template downloaded for true WYSWIG editing.
The ability to quickly save drafts is useful for getting leads down somewhere before I forget them. My only frustration is that the drafts are saved locally. It would be great if they were saved on the server so I could finish something off at home.
Live Writer can also be set to send pings off automatically when a post is published. Good for keeping Technorati up to date. I've also set it to warn me before posting without a category or technorati tags.
I use it with Wordpress and Typepad blogs.
If I may be permitted the link, I gave it 5/5 when I reviewed it a couple of months ago at www.computeractive.co.uk/2209470
The closest contender I've found is the Scribefire addon for Firefox (and the similar feature in Flock). The right-click -> blog this option is really helpful.
Kind regards
Tim