Until now, I've been using the offline editor w.bloggar to compose post for the blog.  I've generally been satisfied with the editor, but it had a few major shortcomings.  First, it was a not a WYSIWIG editor.  In general, this wouldn't bother me, since I'm quite at home with HTML.  But what it did mean was that attempting to introduce more pictures into the stories was always a klunky effort. 

I've switched to Windows Live Writer from Microsoft.  Previous versions were unusable because they did not support the Extended Entry feature of Movable Type (the part of the post that comes after "Read more...").  The latest versions now support that feature, and I can now use the editor.

Picture editing is much easier now.  I create the photo and caption in Adobe Photoshop and save it to my local disk.  Using WLW, I insert the picture into the post, selecting options for text flow, margins, alternate titles, and shading.  When I publish the post, the picture is upload for me.  Before I had to upload the photo myself, then hand-code the link into the post.

The other change is to Technorati tags.  I've never been happy with having the tags at the end.  Ideally, Technorati tags should be in the text itself.  With WLW's link glossary feature, that is much easier.  As I create tags, the editor tracks them, and offers to let me reuse them in subsequent posts.  A bit CSS magic gives the tag a different look (a dotted underline instead of a solid line).  Behind the scenes, a manual cut-and-paste step disappears, making my life a bit easier.

The end result is a more natural blogging experience for both the reader and for me.