Review: iPad App Blogsy

So after a long time of having several productivity apps on my iPad to encourage me to blog more often and in more places on the iPad I've spent pretty much next to none on such activities which is a waste considering that I've spent a large amount of money on Apps collectively. I gave up on using my iPad as a portable computer after I got my IPhone since my iPad was a non 3G, aka WIFI only iPad, so I was pretty much limited only to my WIFI access at home to blog which is pretty much useless since there is my iMac there and if I were to blog elsewhere it'd be highly antisocial or plain weird (Imagining myself being one of those douchebag bloggers that would hit up the Apple Store to do said things)

This all changed once I allowed WiFi tethering from my Jail-broken iPhone. Wireless freedom once again and with my new plethora of tote bags (Thanks to Grace and my Sister *Who's setting up a new food blog, so I think the IPad would be a great addition to her travelings*) I can once again actively blog on the go.

Hit the link to read more.

So back to the topic, Apps that make blogging life easier. Everyone has their preferred method of blogging, I have plenty of ideas throughout my day and would like to document them all but I'm not going to pull out my phone and type crap and I'm definitely not going to remember said things and I don't really like to write up drafts, generally it's go all out or nothing (Obviously the latter) so I needed an app that allows me to write drafts if needed but also allow me to source images from flickr since sometimes I want to upload images but don't want to write a story until tomorrow.

Review: Blogsy

I originally used blogpress on iPad to post up my blog but the problem with this app was that it couldn't source images from Google or images already on my flickr (It required me to source images on my iPad and THEN upload them to flickr or picasa) so while it was quite suitable for writing general posts it was quite useless when coming to doing photoblogs and what not. That's when I went trawling on App Store for a good replacement and only on page 3 did I find Blogsy, a 4.5 star app with most features from blogpress and a few extra.

So what's so special about this app? Having a tablet (or in some cases an ipad) means you can't easily just alt/cmd+tab and then copy image and ctrl/cmd+v like I would on my chrome blogger page. What would I do on the iPad? I wouldn't, that's pretty much it, I've tried it before and it's pretty much pointless and takes too many steps. The Blogsy app has two areas, the Write side and the Live side, and write side (Which is ironically on the left) is the side you do all your typing and formatting, with an easy finger swipe to the left or right you can quickly switch from a rich text format or to a HTML editor. Good for when you want do finer edits (I write in rich text format)

The 'write side' is pretty much like any other blogging app although what makes Blogsy really pop is how it synergies with the 'live side'. The live side is situated on the right hand side and allows you to hit the tabs/round icons to open up the resources to fill and brighten up your post. This is super handy in situations where you need to source images without the need to find the image link, then go through the process of copy and pasting it and doing the HTML img code just for a simple image... Even harder if you have several images to post. This saves plenty of time when it comes typing up a post and pretty much removes the need for post editing.

With the inclusion of resource icons to Flickr, Picasa, YouTube, Google Image Search, Safari, iPad Photo Library and Wordpress, you're able to quick link or retrieve images, videos and information with a single touch, no need to navigate into other programs.

If you have an iPad and would like to blog efficiently, then I highly recommend Blogsy, I'm yet to fully use all the functions since I'm still playing around with it but so far this feature packed app is successful in delivering a blogging experience that most other apps cannot. This app lives up to it's description and promises.

Pros:

- Ease of use

- Touch orientation

- Fast

Cons:

- Cannot delete drafts/accidental tags Read the FAQ

- Crashed once whilst writing this (Didn't lose anything)

- No Choice of fonts or colors. (Most of it I have automatically changed but it's nice to have an option)

4.5 Stars out of 5

Get it here: http://blogsyapp.com/
iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blogsy/id428485324?mt=8&ls=1

/timbo400