Windows Live Writer rocks!

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I’m writing this post at 25,000 ft on board my return flight from the Ragan Strategic Public Relations Conference in Chicago. And I’m using Windows Live Writer Beta to do it.  Just like I used Live Writer for all my posts from the Ragan Conference.

I usually write directly into WordPress. And I’ve been very happy with the WordPress Write screen. I’ve found that it gave me all the flexibility I needed.  

However, in the past year, I’ve tried to Live blog the PRSA Counselors Academy Conference, IABC International Conference and now the Ragan Conference. At each one, the Wi Fi was spotty, working in some rooms but not in others.

At the earlier conferences, I composed my posts in Word and then pasted into NotePad to strip out any stray coding and then, finally pasted into WordPress to blog. And then I still needed to add links and insert images and pictures. What a time consuming process!

Enough of that! I decided to try an offline blogging platform at the Ragan Conference. So, I downloaded Windows Live Messenger Beta.

Wow!

A breeze to set up. I had no problems setting it up for both my external blog, ProPR and my internal company blog (accessible only behind our firewall.) It captured the different templates of each of my blogs and allows me to switch between them with a single click of a drop down menu.

And then I started to write with it. Even better! I found that it offered much more flexibility in handling images and quotes than the standard WordPress Write screen. I was able to add pictures and images while offline. And all of the text styles conformed exactly to my WordPress styles. It also captured my Categories so that I could add those offline. And it allowed me to prepare the framework for my posts in advance (picture of speaker, title, boilerplate description of topic), save the post and then open it for editing during the session with no need for wireless.

Great so far. But how about publishing? The best. One button publishing posted it to my Blog. It integrated perfectly into WordPress.

Bravo Microsoft. Windows Live Writer is a great application that does what it promises to do.

A great html primer

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http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/I’ve been blogging for almost a year. But I’ve been like the driver of a car who has never looked under the hood. I don’t understand the technology that makes my blog work.

Now, I don’t think it is necessary for every blogger to know how to write code. But I’ve felt the need to understand the essentials of the platform my blog is built on. In much the same way as I want to understand the fundamentals of my car’s engine – even if I rely on a mechanic to service it.

So, today I spent the afternoon following the tutorials on a great site, HTML Source. This site provides a practical, easy to follow introduction to html, CSS, JavaScript and other tools needed to develop websites. Ross ShannonIts author, Ross Shannon, is a 22 year old PhD student at University College Dublin.

I completed the first tutorial and at the end of it feel that I now understand basic html. I’m not pretending that I can begin to code my own site. But I now know how the basics are put together and I can make some simple edits and additions to my site using Notepad. In other words, I understand what’s under the hood and I can change the oil!

And all of this as a result of the kindness of a young computer wiz five time zones away. Thank you Ross. Your site has enabled me to do something I’ve wanted to do for years – gain a basic understanding of html.

A great handout idea: del.icio.us bookmark page

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Kami Huyse picked up a great presentation handout idea from Todd Defren:

I assembled a purpose-built del.icio.us page to accompany my presentation. So, no handouts, just one simple URL that contains all the links. Hat tip to Todd Defren for the idea, who is using it to track the meme of the social media release and who just got some coverage of the idea in the issue of BusinessWeek on the stands now (not bad, Todd).

Kami's del.icio.us page
Great idea. I have a couple of presentations coming up in the next couple of months. I’m going to try this and see how the audience likes it.

Feedflare for New PR Digg Site

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Constantin BastureaConstantin Basturea has posted step by step instructions for Feedburner users to add an “Add to New PR” feedflare to their posts. (Mine should show up at the end of this post.)

The instructions are very clear. Even a total coding incompetent like me was able to follow them and successfully add the feedflare to my Feedburner feed.

Thank you Constantin for another great addition. You are making the New PR Digg site an even more accessible resource.

Constantin Basturea's new site gives PR practitioners a vote

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Constantin BastureaConstantin Basturea has launched a New PR site that enables readers to vote for articles on public relations topics.

Constantin is also the force behind the PubSub PR Community list and the NewPR Wiki. Here he is delivering yet another concept to draw PR practitioners together as a community.

On the New PR site, bloggers submit their news articles from their sites using an easy posting form. Posters may submit an image and a summary of their article, both of which will appear with the article title and URL on the New PR site. Articles can also be assigned to an appropriate PR category (e.g. blog relations, employee communication, ethics.)

Visitors to the site can comment on an article or “promote” it by casting a vote. Tabs enable the visitor to view the most recently posted articles or the headlines of articles ranked by number of votes.

Appealing to the “ego factor”, the site also shows registered users how many “Props” they have received for articles they posted.

A Forum allows visitors to conduct discussions on a traditional discussion board. Not surprisingly, one of the first strings dealt with the issue of bloggers voting for their own articles.

Bottom line: Yet another intriguing riff on social media from Constantin. Digg it!

Google Spreadsheets

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Google SpreadsheetsGoogle’s move toward offering a full online ‘Office-killer’ continues with the introduction of Google Spreadsheets. You can sign up for the Beta. Of course, there’s the usual Google stuff about “limited test – first come first served”