CT Biz Blogs

In my continuing search for a good interface for writing blog posts, I have been testing Zoundry’s Blog Writer. It’s for folks with computers running Windows XP or 2000. There are things I love about this application, but up until now, there was always one drawback for me: no spell checker. Well, the Zoundry folks have been busy, and the latest release now has a spell checker. My dreams have come true; I think I found a blog writing app I can use and that has the features that are important to me.

As much as I love WordPress, the writing interface is not great, unless you know HTML or have time to learn a few things. I do and have, so that’s OK for me, but not for newer bloggers. And my version (still 1.5) has no spell checker. That’s essential, especially for techy-types. I’ve observed that when I’m in full-blown programming or tech-mode, my spelling becomes worse than usual.

Zoundry is free, which is nice. It’s actually a tool the Zoundry folks have for people who use their service for managing affiliate accounts, but anyone can use it. I’ve used it and I have no affiliate accounts or ads of any sort.

(Affiliate accounts are one way bloggers can earn extra cash. For example, in an affiliate account with Amazon.com, if anyone clicks on a link to a book or product that links to Amazon, the blogger gets a small amount of money. Affiliate links should always be clearly marked as affiliate!)

I recommend Zoundry if you’re looking for an easy blog writing interface.

Here’s a screen shot of the writing interface. What I love about this is that I have all the common formatting tools, such as font, bullets, indent.

Also, unlike Writely, Zoundry supports categories — when I first set Zoundry up, it imported from my blog all my categories, so I can simply check off the ones that apply to my post.

When I’m ready to post, I have the option of posting as a draft, or actually publishing.

And one last feature, I have one more repository for my posts. I do back up my blog, but those posts and comments are stored in a database. Zoundry Blog Writer gives me a good off-line way to review past posts.

I’ll continue to explore blog writing interfaces, in a search for the best one for new bloggers.

I’d love to hear any suggestions — feel free to leave a comment if you know of anything I should try, or to share how you write your posts.