I have had a few queries about what I use to blog. I currently use Microsoft’s LiveWriter. It is good and free. There are lots of plug-ins available to add facilities. I tend to keep things simple though.

I have used most of the desktop blogging tools, some of the web front ends, and a lot of direct entry. LiveWriter supports most of the main blogs though and the main APIs as well which should cover the rest. It also produces reasonable code (unlike FrontPage in the old days). When posting images, it takes care of uploading them for me if they are not already web based.

I am someone who needs a spell checker – I do not always use it wisely, but it does help. LiveWriter marks incorrect spellings as you write and a right-click usually offers some good alternatives. (I also use WordWeb Pro – a great comprehensive one-click English thesaurus and dictionary for Windows. It can be used to look up words from almost any program, showing definitions, synonyms and related words. It includes pronunciations and usage examples, and has helpful spelling and sounds-like links.)

I contribute to a wide range of blogs, mostly technical, plus my own personal musings on my primary website so it is handy to have a tool to help keep things organised. Sometimes, I share content, and this too is made easier.

The fact that I can write bits when I feel like it (keeping multiple drafts) is handy as well. I get around to publishing when I feel like it. Some of my blogs (especially shared blogs and sometimes my personal blogs) do not put things live straight away (partly to accommodate feeds). Thus, sometimes, I write a post over several days, publish a few days later, and actually make it live sometime after that! Oh well.