Using Windows Live Writer for Blogger

Things change, people change, the world changes, and definitely technology changes.   About a year ago, PANICd converted their blog site over to the Blogger service instead of using Word Press as the blog site.   The following documentation explains how you can use Windows Live Writer as your blog writing utility for Blogger.

You could still use Microsoft Word as a blog writer with Blogger; however, there are some features that are missing that you gain when you use Windows Live Writer.  The 3 main features that we need with the setup of the blog (and the main website)are:

1. The ability to include photos with our blog posts. It is just easier to include the images while you are writing the post.
2. The ability to create/select categories for our blog posts.   On PANICd, we have set categories that tie back to certain pages on the main website.  This why it is important to be able to select categories (or create new categories) for our posts.
3. The ability to insert a split in our posts.   Again, there is a feature on our main website that shows the most recent blog posts.   In order to get that snippet of information to post correctly, we need to be able to insert the split post so that the entire blog post does not show up in the summary section on the main website.

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To download and install Windows Live Writer:

1. Connect to the Microsoft Download Center, Windows Live Writer and perform the following.
2. Click the Download button on this page to start the download, or select a different language from the Change language drop-down list and click Change.
3. Where you see a company or publisher listed in a security message, make sure the company name is Microsoft Corporation. If so, then it is safe to click Run, Continue, or Allow.
4. The installer will open. Select the programs you want to install*, and then click Next.
   *Previously installed Windows Live programs will also be updated if you don't have the latest versions installed yet.
5. Sit back and relax, or do other things on your computer while you wait. Installation shouldn't take more than a few minutes on a broadband connection.
6. When it's done, you'll find your new programs in the Windows Live folder on the Windows Start menu.

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Once you have Windows Live Writer installed, the next step is configuring your accounts.   Before you begin this step, you want to make sure that you have access to the blogger pages within your Google account.   If you do not have access to the PANICd.com blog yet as an editor, please contact the DBA's to request access.

To configure your account settings:

1. Hit the Drop Down next to the accounts
2. Select Manage Account
3. Click Add
4. Under blog service select, Other services
5. Click Next
6. Enter the URL to the Blog Site (The URL to your Blogger Site)
7. Enter your Google Account Username
8. Enter your password
9. Check Remember Password
10. Click Next
11. It will ask which blog site you want to use.
12. Select the Site
13. Click Next
14. Enter the Blog Nick Name
15. Click OK

At this point you should ready to start blogging!

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Using Windows Live Writer is pretty close to using Microsoft Word; however, Live Writer provides you with only the tools you need to publish a blog post.   If you would like a quit little tutorial on how to use the software such as inserting pictures, modifying pictures, inserting links, etc...   here is a link to a quick and simple tutorial that helps explains some of these features:

http://projectsaroundthehouse.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-to-use-windows-live-writer-beautify.html

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Due to the configuration of the main PANICd.com websites and the setup of our social media posts, we kindly ask that you confirm to the following guidelines when writing a blog post.

1. When writing your blog post, your first paragraph should be a summary section of the posts.   Right after that paragraph, click on Insert Split Post.  This will place a line separating the summary form the rest of your posts.   In reality, what this is doing is creating a small section of the blog that will be posted out on the main website (asking people to click more to read), and well as act as the snippet being posted out on social media (again asking people to click more to read).
2. Please include at least 1 picture in your blogger summary.   Again for the main website listing and social media.   IF YOU DID NOT TAKE THE PICTURE, please just insert a link to a picture on the Internet.   We do not want to get in trouble for downloading images that we didn't pay for, or for notices of copy write issues.
3. When writing a blog post, make sure you place the post within a category.   If you don't, the default category is "uncategorized", and someone has to go into "Blogger" to fix this later.
4. You can set a future post date if you wish.   This is located in the top right hand corner of the editor.   If you do not select a future date, the default is the date in which you click the publish button.