Posts – The First Decent Blogging App?

I have no idea why it has taken so long for developers to come up with a decent blogging app. The first one that came anywhere near being usable was Blogsy by Fomola, prior to that a WordPress blogger was basically stuck with the utterly wretched official app and users of other platforms like Blogger were basically screwed.

Thankfully that situation has changed – Blogsy has matured into a genuinely good app and even WordPress have pulled their finger out of their arse long enough to make their official client usable. However Posts is little short of a revelation. It’s the first iPad app that I’ve ever used in preference to my laptop and a browser.

 

 

When you first open the app you see a dashboard full of posts arranged Pinterest-style in date order. You can edit one of these existing entries or you can create a new post, page or draft. You can also search for content or quickly go to a specific date using either the calendar or the slider.

The editing window offers everything you’ll need to format your posts. There are text tools (size, style, appearance and alignment), a link editor, a read-more button and an indent tool. Everything has been thoughtfully designed with the touchscreen interface of the iPad.

 

At the top of the editor screen are buttons to access the properties windows, media, previews and HTML. The properties windows enables you to change post title, tags, categories and article visibility. The media window enables you to insert photos directly from the iPad or from an online image or movie somewhere like Flickr or YouTube. The HTML button gives you access to the raw code to do any markup styling or further additions.

At any time you can save your draft post either locally or online, meaning you can easily switch between iPad and a browser window. The ability to save locally also means  you can write blog entries without Internet access and upload your work when you’re online again. If there are any downsides to the app it’s that it doesn’t give you access to any plugins you might have installed – for instance SEO management.

If you’ve never been tempted to try updating your blog on your iPad, Posts is probably the app that could change your mind. It’s a beautifully designed app, thoughtfully created and is sure to become one of the essentials. It’s available now for $9.99.