Blogo: Not Ready for Prime Time

*Article Updated* When I heard about Blogo, I could barely contain my excitement. A blog editor just for the Mac that had full screen editing, full WYSIWYG control, multiple blog management, image resizing, Twitter integration and simple previews.

I could barely contain myself. When I raced to download the application for my 21-day trial I practically had my credit card in my hand. I almost bought my copy outright but stopped myself to give the software a try. I’m very glad that I did.

Though Blogo certainly has a lot going for it, advanced bloggers are going to want to keep away. It’s feature set is just to limited for people that require advanced manipulation of text and even basic posts are more difficult to post in Blogo than they are in the WordPress or TypePad editing panel.

However, those are the problems that can be fixed, there are other problems that seem to be a bit deeper into the development culture of the product.

Brief Background

Traditionally I have been a MarsEdit user. The bare-bones interface gave me the tools that I needed to get by and not much more. Sure, it lacked the full visual editor, but its HTML was more than robust enough and the ability add and edit tags helped me work with my custom template.

However, in recent months I’ve been trying to use the actual WordPress admin more and more. MarsEdit is Mac-only and I actually have to blog from three different computers, a Mac at my office, a Windows one at home and a Linux laptop. I have to at least be able to function on all three.

Fortunately, after some tweaks to my CSS and my code, I was able to set it up so that I didn’t need Marsedit’s functionality but still enjoyed the fact it had more tags and tools than WordPress. Still, I’ve been working to get used to the default interface and have been using it exclusively on all my sites for the past few weeks.

But there is still a lot of reason a standalone blog editor appeals to me, at least for most days. Sadly though, Blogo isn’t the one that I am looking for.

The Good

On the upside of the coin, Blogo is a beautiful application that is fast, stable and capable. What it does it does very well. I was able to get it to connect to all of my WordPress blogs without any issue. The application looks very good, the interface is easy to understand and it fits well with the Mac, which is something MarsEdit doesn’t do as well.

Overall, the process of setting up blogs and posting is very easy and intuitive. I also really like the feature that lets me drag images in and resize them directly in the application. If it could combine that with a built in screenshot program, I’d likely be in heaven.

For the most part, you should have no trouble figuring out how to use the interface or what to do with the program. Furthermore, it definitely provides a very “Mac-like” editing experience. For the most part, it will fit neatly within any workflow you have going on your Mac, especially if you are a fan of drag and drop.

The Bad

The bad news is that the very minimalist UI leads to a very limited set of editing tools. In fact, Blog has fewer features than the default editor for WordPress. You can bold, italicize, underline, strikethrough, quote and bullet list using the formatting tools provided, but not much else. There is no way to insert the “More” tag, something I desperately need, (Correction: This function is under the “Format/Insert menu. I did not see it. It is pretty thoroughly buried, you can’t be in full screen edit mode to use it and is named “Page Break”. I simply did not see it.) no way to add headers (which WordPress does lack) and the image support while cool, is more limited than WP’s current image uploader.

Compare this to MarsEdit, which has dozens of additional options right out of the box and the ability to add/create more if needed. Not only is Blogo limited compared to Marsedit, but it is also inflexible.

But once you are done editing, the problems resume. The last step for me on one of my blogs is to add some custom tags to the post so I can have the correct images display on the home page. Currently, no blog editor has this function (I’m not even sure if it is possible) so I have to upload my posts as a draft and put the finishing touches on the post.

This is not a major deal for me, but Blogo has no means to set up a post to be uploaded as a draft (Correction: This was a mistake on my part, It is available under the “File” menu. Not where I expected it, but not so horrible I feel vindicated for not seeing it.) Marsedit, by contrast, has the ability to not just set that option per post, but to make it the default, a big boost for people like me that need to make 100% something isn’t published before its ready.

Finally, I did notice a few bugs as I used the application. For one, the preview function did not work as advertised. Though it did the temporary post and pulled down the template, there were two problems with the process.

First, the temporary post was shot out over my feed as it wasn’t taken down quick enough. This made me very nervous about trying it again. Second, the preview never would display the text of the post I was writing just the “The is a temporary post” text that it inserts in the test post.

Without a “MORE” tag, no custom tags, no “post as draft” feature I literally can not use the application for any of my blogging. I depend on all three of the functions and, without at least the last item, there is nothing that I can do.

The Ugly

The problem through it all is that I actually wanted to like Blogo. I have a strong affinity for quirky apps, which can be affirmed by looking at their icon (see above ), I love the idea of full-screen blog editing, especially for longer posts, and the application’s look and feel is great.

So, in an attempt to see if I was overlooking the features that I needed (or at least plant a bug in the developer’s ear for future work) I headed over the to the Blogo support forums to ask my question. I posted a simple question about uploading the posts as draft and, after two days of being up, no one has come to reply to it. The forums themselves are pretty dead right now, only about half a dozen topics, but other questions have seen answers.

Compare this kind of support to IntenseDebate, who responded to a problem I had within one hour. I realize that Blogo is the product of a small Mac development company, but product support, even to free members, is often the difference between an app that gets used or one that rots on the digital shelves.

Sadly, I think Blogo and its company, Brainjuice, have lost my business for good. I can wait patiently for the features I need to be added, I did with MarsEdit, but to not even acknowledge the question or the issue, as well as other more pressing problems, is not excusable.

Conclusions

In the end, Blogo is a flawed but loveable application that could really become something of value down the road. However, if its company were nearly as loveable as the application itself, I might consider waiting for that to happen, but as it is I’m going to rededicate myself to using the backend of WordPress and hoping for the best.

WordPress’ editor may not be the best in the world but it has the features I need and I can use it anywhere.

Besides, at least with WP I know who I can ask to get help when I need it…