As I write this column, I'm sitting in my favourite coffee shop. And
instead of using my traditional computer setup, I'm writing on an
Internet-connected iPad with easy access to blogging apps.
Blogging, it is very clear, has come to mobile computing.
The WordPress app is my favorite for mobile blogging.
Available free on iOS and Android, its design is relatively simple but
effective for creating posts peppered with images and links.
It's also quite good for distraction-free writing, with little to
interrupt you as you work.
When you load the app, you have to log into a WordPress account, which
is free. From the main interface, you can reach blogs you have already
set up or start a new one.
Once you are in your blog, writing a new post is as easy as clicking on
the plus icon. A new page for entering text opens, with sections for
the post's title and the body text.
As you type, you can select words and use formatting controls to make
them bold or italic, or you can turthem into links to other websites.
To add a photo or image from your device's archive, tap on the picture
icon. You can also preview what your post will look like when it is
published online through the eyeball icon. It then takes just a few taps
to tag your post with keywords and to publish it.
This app is simple to use, but it does have limitations - particularly
on iOS. In the iOS edition, editing your post's format inserts code into
the text, which may be disconcerting if you're not used to HTML. The
app is also only for posting to WordPress blogs.
The Blogsy app, $5 (Rs 298) for iPads, is a great alternative to the
WordPress option.
It lets you write blog posts that are compatible with WordPress, but you
can also post blog articles to your accounts on other popular blogging
platforms like Tumblr and Blogger.
Blogsy feels more full-featured than the WordPress app, and writing
with it is more like the kind of what-you-see-is-what-you-get experience
of typing into a desktop publishing program like Microsoft Word.
For example, when you make a word bold, you see it bold on the screen
right away. The app also lets you drag and drop photos and videos to
just the right place in your post from your device's archive or from
online services like Flickr and YouTube.
There are familiar dropdown menus for controlling design issues like
font and text size. There is even a Save icon, to reassure yourself that
your draft is saved if you want to work on it again before publishing.
To get to the HTML code that makes your blog post work, you can tap on
the little "" icon. This makes it easy to change parameters like the
size of images and alignment of text.
If you're clever, you can also use this feature to learn the relevant
code: Simply edit the post in the main view, then flip to see the code.
All these features make Blogsy fun and easy to use, but I find it a
little more distracting than a simple empty page. Its interface also has
a few quirks, and it will take a while to learn where all the controls
are in the different dropdown and pop-up menus.
If Blogsy's busy interface isn't to your taste, you may like Byword, a
$5 (Rs 298) iOS app with a spartan design. It works a lot like Blogsy,
and can post to your Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress and other accounts,
though to use this feature you have to pay another $5 (Rs 298) for an
in-app upgrade.
Blogger (iOS and Android) and Tumblr (iOS and Android) are alternative
blog writing apps that post only to those specific blogging platforms.
The apps work perfectly well, but I find them too restrictive and
frustrating to use.
Your mileage may vary, of course, and the apps are free, so there is no
harm in trying them.
Finally, mobile bloggers often need to keep track of many Web pages to
link to in their posts. I find the Pocket app, by Read It Later,
incredibly useful for this.
It offers clever bookmark storage for website addresses and videos or
other material I have found in other apps like Twitter.
Learning how to use it doesn't take long, and it is free for iOS and
Android.
The joy of these apps is their mobility. Have a story to tell and don't
want to wait until you get to your home computer? Now you don't have
to.
