Mobile blogging

The blogging software I'm using is from blogger.com, and it is brilliantly simple to use at a desktop. You can write your posts in Compose (WYSIWYG) mode, with various shortcut buttons to add photos, or bullets points, or links, not dissimilar to WordPad, for example. Or you can write in HTML, which gives you much more control over what happens, but requires formatting in computer-speak.  To switch between the two just means switching between tabs in the same window.  Easy peasy!

You would think that blogging from an iPad should also be magnificently straightforward. A mobile almost-computer should be perfect for creating a travelblog.

Oh, if only.

The iPad is a bit like a computer, but not really, and the native Safari is pretty good at pretending to be a browser. But then you discover that the iPad, the hippest kid in school, does not play well with others.

Compose mode is not available (the error message says your browser is not up to date, which is complete codswallop).  And you can't add photos directly from the iPad - you've got to upload them using a separate program, and then retrieve them from wherever they're being hosted (Flickr, Picasa, Dropbox etc). Bugger that for a joke.

Googling suggests using a proper browser, such as iCad, will get around these problems.  It does allow me to upload photos directly from the iPad, sort-of, but doesn't let me compose in WYSIWYG. And my HTML is adequate for basic stuff, but not much more.

Feh.

But, I may have a solution in BlogPress.

BlogPress is a third-party app which works with most of the blog platforms including Blogger, WordPress and LiveJournal.  It allows you to compose in something like WYSIWYG, with limited HTML formatting options presented in a user-friendly manner.  And it allows you to add photos directly from the iPad, and resize them. If necessary, after uploading as an online draft, you can then fine-tune the fomatting using the full HTML editor in Blogger

It also has the option to work offline, including editing published posts and online drafts (if retrieved before going offline), as well as composing posts for later upload once you're back on the web.  This functionality will be far more important in India than New York, but it's also helpful for planes, trains and automobiles, and anywhere else I can't get wifi.

And once I get a tactile keyboard (rather than relying on the touchscreen one), I should be off and running.