I recently returned to blogging after a bit of a break and was surprised to find that my WordPress editor had changed in many ways that I so far do not appreciate. So this morning, I am doing a little experiment in creating blog posts using Microsoft Word. To start, I opened Word and clicked on: File –> New –> Blog Post. I am now typing this post directly into Word’s blog post editor and will test out the various functionalities to see if I like the way it publishes to my blog. (I also noticed that I have the option to open this document in Contribute, but that is an experiment for another day.)
Unfortunately, what I dislike most about the WordPress editor updates are related to how the editor interacts with my Zemanta plugin. Equally unfortunate is the fact that moving to Word will not fix this issue, as it does not appear that I can download a Zemanta Add-In for Microsoft Word. (If I am incorrect on this, would someone please inform me of how and where to obtain the Ad-In so I can get it? Please and thanks!) So, if I am going to be dependent on Zemanta for images and related content, I will likely have to add these by going into my WordPress editor and updating the post after I have published it. If you have found a way around this or know of a better way of doing this, please share in the comments below.
So far, I like the actual typing of the blog post in Word. The spellcheck and autocorrect features are far superior to what you get in the WordPress editor. I will now attempt to insert an image and see how I like that functionality…
Okay, that did not go well. What is the deal with that caption? It appears that you have very little control over that part of it. Also, the image I inserted (the adorable koala photo that is a stock image that came with my computer) was gigantic when I inserted it. I attempted to compress it, but it did not appear to do anything. So then, I used the little handlebars at the corner of the image to resize it that way. But so far, I am not seeing a way to preview my blog post to see what it actually looks like.
And can we just talk about that caption again? I selected the option to place the caption below the image, but it appears to have landed at the top of my post, nowhere near the image. This is where being able to preview the post would be helpful. There’s another point for the WordPress editor I guess. *sighs*
Okay, so now I would like to insert a “read more” break. You use those, don’t you? If not, you should. I can’t find one in my Word toolbar anywhere. I am sighing again. So far, I am not really seeing much point to the Microsoft Word blog post editor. There doesn’t seem to be much that you can really do with it. At this point, I am beginning to get the idea that I may as well stick with typing up my posts in a regular Word doc and then copying and pasting them over to my WordPress editor.
I am going to go ahead and hit the “Publish” button to see what results, but my hopes aren’t high. The blog post is obviously unfinished. Who wants to post an unfinished blog post? I don’t want my posts to run until they are complete!
But wait! Before I hit “Publish,” I just clicked on the “Home Page” button in my Word toolbar to open my blog in a browser window, and guess what! (duh-d-duh!) It opened the wrong blog! Instead of opening up my Write on the World blog (you know, the one whose exact URL I entered when setting up Word for blogging,) it opened an old blog that I haven’t updated in a few years now. Why would it do that? I didn’t enter that URL! It makes no sense! I attempted to change it, but for some reason, Word is determined to post to my old blog. So I am guessing that once I hit that “Publish” button, this blog post will not even go to the right place. I think Word just failed this test. *super sighs*
How do you create posts for your WordPress blog? Please share your experiences in the comments below.
Just for fun, let’s hit that “Publish” button anyway and see what happens.
*holds breath*
*clicks button*
I guess the only way to publish this blog post is to go copy and paste it into my WordPress blog editor. So basically, I could have saved myself a lot of time and irritation by continuing to ignore the fact that a blog post editor even existed in Word. I guess it’s back to trying to figure out how to control my WordPress editor.
Write on the World 