February 2008

While I’m trying out MarsEdit, I noticed a few things missing that I’m used to with Ecto.

Quicker way of adding links. In Ecto, to embed URL links to posts, I got used to:

1. copying the link
2. highlighting text in Ecto
3. right click text and choose “URL with clipboard”

In MarsEdit, I have to do the first two steps, but then right click text, select “Text Markup” and select “Paste Link” – an extra step/click.

Hey, how do you do lists (ol and ul) in MarsEdit? Make my own Text Markup? Edit by hand like I did for the above ol list?

Editing Post Timestamp. Can’t seem to find how to change the date and timestamp of posts in MarsEdit so I can reorder posts. Have to now change date and time in Blogger.

Instant Markup. I know I can use command key combos to instantly markup text like making text bold using command-b. But is there a similar button to do this? If I’m clicking around with my mouse, it’s sometimes easier to click on a Bold button rather than move my mouse hand back to the keyboard.

Edit Technorati HTML. It must be here somewhere, but I can’t find where to edit the HTML section for the Technorati tags. Adding Technorati tags is easy with MarsEdit, but I wanted to change the auto-inserted HTML to style the tags. Or am I supposed to strictly style the tags via Blogger’s CSS?

Multiple Blog Account Grouping. As far as handling multiple blogs on various blogging platforms, I think I prefer Ecto’s way of grouping all blogs by the blogging platform. For example, when connecting to Blogger with Ecto, Ecto shows me all the blogs associated with my Blogger account. With MarsEdit, I have to add each one individually.

“Group tags.” Neither product supports a common group of tags as far as I know. What do I mean? I regularly select common tags when writing about my favorite subjects. For shoes, I’ll add the tags of “shoes,” “kicks,” “sneakers,” and often times “nike.” But that means I have to select four tags. How about defining a group tag that when selected, will select these four tags for me? This way too, I’ll be more consistent using the same tags on the same subjects.

Hmmm, I know MarsEdit is NOT Ecto, but for me, there are some key features missing so far.

Technorati Tags:
blogging, ecto, marsedit

For all my blog entries, I’ve been using Ecto for quite some time. I like a dedicated app for writing posts rather than using online editors. Apps like Ecto and MarsEdit give more flexibility and includes common shortcuts that make posting and linking easier.

Anyway, I’ve been hearing about the improvements in MarsEdit with its continual updates from new owner, Red Sweater Software, so I wanted to check it out. I’ve been an Ecto version 2 user and recently upgraded to the version 3 beta, but let’s just say the window for looking for a different blog writer like MarsEdit is open (yes, I understand Ecto3 still beta).

While Ecto works okay, I’ve noticed a few quirks like not always handling ordered (ol) or unordered (ul) lists properly and markup getting all messed up. And I think me and Ecto have a different philosophy or way of thinking since I find the layout and menus of Ecto kinda confusing and not the most elegant. Not sure how these are with MarsEdit, but that’s why I’m going to give it a try for awhile.

Technorati Tags:
ecto, marsedit, blogging