So I just installed Live Writer and am writing this blog with it. Integrating with my blog was painless. I added a Code Snippet plug-in, hoping that it will work well for me. I’ve been using CopySourceAsHtml (CSAH) to great success, but thought it best to try out the plug-ins that are available. There are other code plug-ins, but this was the highest rated. Do you, Dear Reader, have a favorite?
Here is a comparison between the CSAH and the plug-in:
CSAH:
1 [Specification]
2 public void the_job_end_date_should_be_set()
3 {
4 _view.AssertWasCalled( v => v.EndDate = EndDate );
5 }
Plug-in:
1: [Specification]
2: public void the_job_end_date_should_be_set()
3: {
4: _view.AssertWasCalled( v => v.EndDate = EndDate );
5: }
I had to set up additional styles in my blog CSS because the class names for the plug-in are different than CSAH. It wasn’t a big deal though since I was able to simply reuse the existing styles. Also, I lose some of the coloring that CSAH gives because CSAH grabs the colors directly from Visual Studio. It’s not a big loss. In fact, I have either option with Live Writer as you can see. I just have to “Paste Special…” when using CSAH. Maybe I will try a couple of the other code snippet plug-ins later tonight.
Live Writer advantages over built-in GeeksWithBlogs editor.
- I have had to work around a problem with the built-in edit regarding hyperlinks. Live Writer doesn’t exhibit the same problem.
- With Live Writer, while writing my blog it is already displayed using my blog CSS. With the built-in, I have to wait until after I publish. Yikes!
- Saving a draft is a breeze with LW. I’ve frequently lost blog posts because of errors posting with the built-in.
- Preview mode is nice, as it shows me what the post will look like after it is published, including blog headers, side-bars, etc.
- Both support a Source view.
- Plug-in support. It took me no time at all to find a plug-in for code snippets. There are a bunch more out there too.
- Categories are much easier to assign. With the built-in, the list of category checkboxes are not alphabetized and the text is frequently misaligned.
Other things of note:
- With LW, you can specify a publish date. Sounds cool, but I haven’t had a need for it yet.
- I have to set up different “keywords” (Auto Linking in LW). Fortunately, I don’t have a ton of key words yet, so, it’s not a big deal.