I don’t really know why it has taken me so long to try out and sing the praises of Blogsy, the multi-platform iPad blogging app. My life would have been so much easier the last couple of months had I been using it rather than the WordPress App or direct web access to the WordPress client via a browser.
Editing blog posts on an iPad is problematic no matter whether the blogging platform used is WordPress, Typepad, Joomla, or one of ten other commonly used platforms. Images are the bugaboo that stumped me time and again when I tried to edit directly from the browser I was using, Safari, or with the Wordrpress native app. that can be downloaded for free through the App Store.
The new site I’m working on is a Joomla platform, and I’ve previously hosted multiple active blogs on different platforms such as Blogspot and Live Journal in the past. So I have used software that provided a single interface because it allowed me to have one familiar GUI (graphical user interface for those non-nerds among us!) from which I could write, post, and store drafts. For years Mars Edit was my software choice when using a laptop or my desktop. But now with the iPad pretty much replacing the laptop in my life, I realized it was time for me to find something equivalent to my dear old standby Red Sweater software that is, unfortunately, not available for the iPad.
Image insertion troubles were the bugaboo that made me start checking out other apps.
Most bloggers who use iPads know that a direct edit or change of almost anything on their blogsite, without the use of an intermediary app, is problematic. Using forms, sending any kind of instruction, or manipulating an image while using a standard iOS browser is either impossible or problematic with respect to what information will actually be sent or how it will be interpreted or come out on the screen.
I also had trouble with the WordPress App creating a new draft if I had not already created the draft post through direct browser access. Something would happen and what was supposed to be a draft I’d saved would end up being published. There is nothing more embarrassing than premature e-publication.
But seriously, direct browser access of a WordPress site in edit mode displays the entire webpage, including sidebars, titles, and icons, and takes up way too much of the prime real estate on the iPad screen. Of course touch interaction is not reliably functional during editing. Heck, until responsive website design becomes de rigeur just viewing blogs, on mobile devises such as phones and tablets, will be a big enough challenge for most of us, let alone creating and editing them on mobile devices.
But there are enough of us weirdo techy, geeky goddesses out there who want to throw our business in our handbag and be able to take effective charge of our online businesses no matter where we are, that editing from a tablet is an essential ability we need to have.
So I paid the $4.99 for Blogsy in the App Store a few days ago, and I wish I had done it far sooner!
This is what the interface looks like:
It is clean, easy to read, and functionally intuitive. The WordPress app, below, is cluttered, crowded, and difficult to read, and gives you no preview of images or links.
For me the decision was obvious, Blogsy, is the way to go. I have no doubt that it will pull its weight when I start intensive use of using other platforms, such as Joomla, for blogging. Can’t wait. I love it when I find products that work!
By the way, I am using Blogsy, Cerberus, version 4.1
Buy it. 5 Stars! Woot.
Kat Meller
If I had an iPad (I have a XOOM) for my tablet, I would be looking into this one. I know that working with my tablet on my blog is at times, frustrating. I had to replace my laptop (pretty much died … no longer internet capable) just so I could work on my blog without pulling out my hair on a regular basis.
Thanks for sharing – I’ll be looking around at other “apps” you have tested while I check out the rest of your blog.
Nancy
I have been a Mac person for quite a while and am slowly getting everything apple-ized. Phone is next. How is working with Xoom and do you have enough access to apps?
sandra tyler
Love Blogsy!
Kathy
Great information! Thanks for the heads up!!
Kathy
https://gigglingtruckerswife.blogspot.com
Jennifer Comet Wagner
I downloaded the Blogsy app because it looks so great but I still haven’t used it. I really have to try it out.
Nancy
You will love it@
Lisa Weidknecht
I’m rather attached to my laptop. Thanks for the review though!
Nancy
I loved my laptop until it died. I looked at the amount to replace it, or getting an iPad last year and an iPhone this yrar. I still love my desktop!
Nancy
🙂
Winnie
Thanks for this. I just got an IPAD and haven’t been liking it AT ALL. I think it is the typing aspect of it that I am having a hard time adjusting to. I used to be a typist on a typwriter, and now computer, but the touch screen will take some getting used to for me. I will download this app and try it out also. I have just been updating my blog using the Safari and then Blogger. Thanks for the tip!
Nancy
I use an ultrathin logitech keyboard cover and it makes my iPad functional. Without that I just could not WRITE on the iPad. It was right around 100 bucks. I did a review of it in mid or late May here on the blog. That keybord and Blogsy makes it all work. Pages is very useful too! G’luck.
Corinne Rodrigues
Now if only I could get an Ipad 😛
Nancy
True, the market share is fairly small, but I encourage you to join in, when you can… There are so many apps it is difficult to figure out which ones are worth trying out.