Category Archives: Apps and Software

WordPress Desktop test post (and if it works, an update!)

I downloaded once again the WordPress Desktop ‘app’ to see if it works better than it did when I posted this rant:Out with WordPress Desktop

If you can read this, then they fixed whatever bug that prevented me from posting to my blogs. (I’m still going to use Mars Edit to write; the WP Desktop is useful in adminning/managing the site, cjhecking stats, etc.)

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

Out with WordPress (desktop) and in with Mars Edit 4

Years ago when I first started blogging and learned it was going to be a consistent thing in my online life, I downloaded blogging software called Mars Edit. I loved it. After I had been logging directly into my Blogspot account for a few years, the idea of using a ‘professional’ piece of software meant that I was now a serious blogger; almost as much as moving to my own hosting provider would seem a couple of years later. I kept Mars Edit for a while, then discarded it when WordPress’ own internal blog editor seemed to pass MarsEdit in functions. But mostly, I had to abandon the Mac platform as I needed a new computer and could not afford a new or refurbished Mac; I went Linux and using WP software was a perfect fit. (MarsEdit is Mac-only.) Then WP came out with their own desktop app and that just ‘blew me away’ with its functions. Not only could you write blogposts, but also administer and manage your blog, check stats and so on. I retained fond memories of Mars Edit but never thought I’d go back to it. 

But that all changed yesterday. I drafted of a post for Sober Catholic on my phone using the WP Android app, then afterwards tried to edit it on my Mac. I couldn’t. I got this error message:  “Proceed in External Browser? You have one or more plugins that prevent editing content within WordPress Desktop. Continue in an external browser?”  I got so mad that I went to Twitter and ranted in a series of Tweets:

“Seriously? The whole point of using the #wordpress desktop app is to avoid having to go online and blog. Blog offline, upload when done, see it on the blog. But according to a WordPress forum, a recent update broke this basic function. Great job! I used to use #marsedit a long time ago for all my blogging needs. I wonder if I can find my old license would I get a discount on an upgrade? (No idea where the license key is…. deep in some external hard drive…)”

To me, this was mind-bogglingly stupid. You have a popular piece of software that works just fine, and then you update it and these updates breaks the basic, core function of the app; as in ‘the primary reason for its existence.’ Who tested this? How could they have missed this basic flaw prior to software implementation? This was just…. so…. irresponsible and incompetent.

So I emailed the Mars Edit help desk with the info needed to assist them in finding my old license key, since it was buried in some folder on some external backup hard drive. It took them just a few hours (and on a weekend, too!) to locate it and email it to me. Plus, I also qualified for a 50% off upgrade discount (I had used MarsEdit 3, it is now up to version 4.) Well, I just couldn’t resist. I went through the process of buying it, connecting it to this and the Sober Catholic blog. This is a test post. If you are reading this then it was successful.

I deleted WordPress Desktop from my Mac; I also deleted it from my Android phone. I thought about keeping it but there’d be no point. If I am going to use my phone to compose a blogpost, then I may as well just login directly to the blog and go from there. I can save posts as drafts and edit them later using Mars Edit as the drafts will be pulled down to the Mac by Mars Edit.

So, that is that. I even briefly thought about leaving WordPress altogether in favor of some other blogging platform, but that is extreme, unnecessary, and hopefully the WordPress blogging devs aren’t as incompetent as the app devs. I rue the day when there is an update to the WordPress software itself that ‘breaks it,’ especially when so many sites utilize it.

 

 

 

 

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)

Testing WordPress

Some time ago I downloaded the WordPress app for my smartphone in hopes of using it as an aid to blogging. I already used it for a post on Sober Catholic and it worked just fine.

Now I’m using it here for a test post to see if I can blog while offline and save as draft. It worked, the post was saved locally. I can edit it later and post it online.

I have no Internet at work unless I use mobile data, which I do as little as possible due to cost. But I do have plenty of downtime in between my duties; normally I read but with the addition of this app, I can now blog. Even if I keep them as drafts until I get home, this can be an improvement in my blogging efforts. Many times I get inspired at work to blog about this or that, on here or on Sober Catholic but by the time I get home, meh. The stuff remains as semi-legible scibbles on note paper (there’s a nice stack on the coffee table of things to eventually put to digital ink.) For those who may want to point out that over a year ago I consecrated my blogs to the Blessed Virgin Mary and thus I should be posting madly away, just a couple of things: “Nature vs Grace,” and maybe the consecration is working out just fine, measuring it by productivity is incorrect as “productivity” is a Protestant virtue. 😉 But now I can happily blog away. Just whip out my phone, write a draft, edit as the day goes on, and post it upon connectivity. (Oh, great. Another blowhard online using up electrons.)

One thing I enjoy about the WordPress app is that, along with the ability to totally manage and administer multiple blogs (or just one), you can comment on other people’s blogs as long as they are also using WordPress. Either a self-hosted blog using WordPress software or hosted on wordpress.com. This adds a social function to blogs that may serve as a limited means around proprietary social media like Facebook, et al. For those who enjoy using Facebook, etc., to vent, rant, philosophize and pontificate post observations on things, this can be a way to liberate yourself from the possibility of censorship with its accompanying restrictions and problems. Just start a blog. Get your friends and cohorts to do the same. Post your rants observations. Follow each other’s blogs. Comment on each others’ posts using the “Conversations” feature. Let the fun begin.

The mobile app is available in the usual app stores; the desktop version from here.

(Note: this was written on the smartphone app and slightly edited later at home. Possibilities…)

Are you a creative Catholic? ""Building a Civilization of Love: A Call to Creative Catholics," is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone who is an alcoholic or addict? "The Sober Catholic Way" helps Catholics by describing the many ways in which their faith can assist in maintaining sobriety, and is a basic handbook on how anyone can live a sober life. . (Thank you!!)