The Windows Live Writer Team has announced that Windows Live Writer Beta 3 is now available.
I am a huge fan of Windows Live Writer, and the program is better with each release. I am using the Beta 3 to blog this post. The interface appears to be the same. See the screen shot below of the updated program:
Version 12.0.1277.0816
Some highlights, and my comments of this release:
- Insert videos, from the web or Soapbox using the new ‘Insert Video’ dialog – the question is will this work with WordPress, or will you still need to use the Embed Video for WordPress from Scøtt of Scottisafooldev?
- Upload images to Picasaweb when publishing to your Blogger blog – this appears to be specific to Blogger, I post to WordPress.
- Publish XHTML-style markup
- Use Writer in 28 additional languages – still in English . . . Yay. This will allow other languages to enjoy the wonder that is WLW.
- Print your posts – this would have come in handy when I printed a post about Wishing my Friend well, so she could see the post and the comments. At least it would have cleanly printed the post.
- Justify-align post text – there have been times in posts past I could have used this.
- Better image handling (fewer blurry images) – I don’t remember having any issues with my previous images.
- Resolved installation issues from last release – some people encountered a few problems trying to install Beta 2, it is good to hear that these issues were addressed.
- Many other bug fixes and enhancements – as of late I have been receiving some unable to post errors, or unable to communicate with server errors, and yet sometimes the post is still uploaded. I am hoping these issues have been addressed.
As I mentioned I am a fan of Windows Live Writer, and think the program includes great functionality. The best part is . . . it is free! I have tried to use other blog writers, without the success and stability I have had using Windows Live Writer. The other post writing programs I used had a nominal fee. I would have been happy to buy one of those other programs, had they actually worked as I needed them too. I have also tried:
- RocketPost, not once, but twice, and encountered program failures both times.
- BlogJet – I gave it a shot, but wasn’t impressed enough to leave WLW.
Thanks to Robert Scoble for the heads up, I noticed he snuck this in at the bottom of one of his posts.
Technorati Tags: Windows Live Writer , Microsoft , Beta 3 , Blogging Tools , Robert Scoble , RocketPost , BlogJet
Thomas - Technical Blogger 
September 8, 2007 at 3:54 am
Thanks! I’m going to have to try this on my HP. Yah know how you get used to a particular keyboard (or is that just me)? I’m used to my MacBook Pro and when I’m anything else I feel like I’m “cheating”, lol. 😉
Then again if I try to use my HP my daughter might have a fit. I think I told you before she thinks that is “hers”.
September 8, 2007 at 8:31 pm
I am a fan of Windows Live Writer. The software has never failed me. And when a correction is needed – happens quite often 🙂 – it is easy to do.
One thing that I would like to see more of is like strike through etc on Font menu … more options plz.
September 9, 2007 at 5:49 am
I eager to try live writer, but it doesn’t support my system–server 2003. What can I do if I want to use it in server 2003?
September 9, 2007 at 12:14 pm
lizze and JL Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
lizze – You mentioned that you would like to see more of strike through on the font menu. I am not quite clear on your request, you would like more information on how to use it? If you can clarify your request for me, I would be happy to help.
JL – The installer is having problems with Server 2003, 2008, and the 64-bt version of XP. It is not WLW but the installer that is having issues. I found the following information from Aaron, in the WLW forums that you might find helpful. The WLW forums are an excellent resource to find solutions to these kinds of problems.
Please see the information on this thread:
http://groups.msn.com/windowslivewriter/generaltopics.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=5128&LastModified=4675638538746623564
You should be able to use the information posted to grab the necessary installer file(s) you need.
September 9, 2007 at 2:37 pm
[…] Thomas – I am an admitted fan of Windows Live Writer. I think it is an excellent tool to use for writing blog posts. I am always happy to try to answer questions people have about the tool. […]
September 9, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Thanks, Thomas! That thread helps!
September 9, 2007 at 11:12 pm
[…] asked how to solve this problem in Thomas – Technical Blogger, and Thomas gives a useful link to me. Now, I am typing this post in Live […]
September 10, 2007 at 7:55 pm
J. Lai – I am happy that I could help. This demonstrates the importance of having access to good resources. You may not always know the answer, but it is important to have resources to turn to, such as blogs and forums.
September 11, 2007 at 10:07 pm
The ultimate wish list is to have as many option as in MSWord/Format/ Font 🙂
I would like to have strike through: : included in the Writer. I use this in a post when I have to go back and correct it. I leave the wrong bits in but use strike through over it and and then type in the new info.
Sure, I can go to the html layout and add it in but it would be better if it could be done under the Font menu instead.
One thing that I was not so happy with was the latest update of the Writer and the pushing of other Microsoft products during the download. It should have been an option before the download if I wanted the Messenger, Mail etc. not during.
I think the Writer is a great product and I can’t see any reason why I should use something else. Many thanks doing a great job and for continuing improving it!!
September 13, 2007 at 6:49 am
lizzie – WLW does have the formatting options that you have mentioned.
There are the formatting icons on the line with the font drop-down list. Look for the word Paragraph. You can select different font sizes using this drop-down list. Also on the font bar is Bold, Italic, Underline and Strikethrough as you want. You can also create bulleted and numbered lists.
There is also quite a bit that you can do using the Format menu. There were quite a few updates with the last Live release. The idea is that Live is a bundled product. I will need to investigate this a bit more, as I don’t have much information on this roll out.
I agree that the WLW Dev team has done an excellent job.
September 13, 2007 at 6:04 pm
*d’oh*
I can see it now 🙂
Right in front of me!!
Cheers Thomas 🙂
September 13, 2007 at 6:55 pm
lizze – I am happy to that I could help. Sometimes it is the most obvious stuff that alludes us.
October 8, 2007 at 6:45 am
Cool! I was having the same problem as JL. Lemme try the alternatives… *heads over to JL’s*
Tx.
October 8, 2007 at 7:56 am
Chittaranjan – Thanks for stopping by and commenting. If people are getting the information they need, I must be doing something right.
October 9, 2007 at 5:55 am
[…] to Thomas and J.Lai, I came to know that the reason behind WLW not installing on Windows 2003 server was not […]
November 7, 2007 at 10:38 pm
[…] been using Windows Live Writer as long as I have been blogging. I wrote posts announcing Beta 2 and Beta 3, as well as numerous other posts about using WLW. Now I am excited to post about the release of WLW […]