If you run a WordPress powered site it can be tricky using a mobile to publish rich content that looks like the rest of your desktop published content. After many months of searching I have finally found a way to do so on my iPhone. Here are the tools I have been using-
There are a few options for updating blogs on the iPhone including the official WordPress app which doesn’t allow formatting at this stage and as such is only really suited to simply home blogs that do not require links or any formatting. BlogBooster boasts a WYSIWYG feature which is unique on the iPhone and many other features that mean it should be the leader in this field, but in my experience it is highly unreliable and I have found that 2 out of 3 posts created on it struggle to even make it to PDA-247. The multi-tasking is very poor and flipping between apps, which you need to do to create a blog post simply does not work most of the time with the text disappearing for no apparent reason. Multi-tasking is also very slow because the app continually tries to synchronise the site.
BlogPress has worked 100% of the time for me so far; multi-tasking is fluid and leaves your work in the exact state you left it and the html inserts are cleverly implemented. It isn’t WYSIWYG, but it doesn’t need to be because anyone can work with it. Simply highlight some text and choose your insert. Images are a bit tricky because a left aligned images drops the text one line and a centre aligned image truly is centred. There is no option for no justification. Besides that I can make most posts look the same as they do from a desktop.
Mobile Safari
Any browser will do for this task and Mobile Safari includes the only two options you need; saving images and copying the full URL you are viewing. Copying text is also a snap and works perfectly for this task.
Adobe Photoshop Express
Copying images from a web page is OK, but rarely will the image be the size you need. Crucially Adobe Photoshop Express allows you to select a part of an image and save that separately. It doesn’t do scaling and I am still looking for an app that does that, but it just about does what will be needed for most bloggers. Out of interest it also does borders and effects which could be useful for some sites.
I am using this more and more to create content and it has proved invaluable for not losing data. I am also using it to write a book at the moment and its simplicity is what makes it work so well.
These are the only tools I need to manage 247 on the go and I am 90% successful in posting what I need to. BlogPress needs a small amount of work on image handling and Adobe needs some more options, but it is great to finally be able to manage the site when away from home. Total cost: £3.58.
