I got a following email from Microsoft on whether the issue that I was having with uploading images was resolved with the latest version of WordPress.
I am happy to say that the image to the right was uploaded via the xmlrpc.php as opposed to the FTP option that Window Live Writer offers.
I guess this was user error and I am sorry for the false alarm.
My props goes to Microsoft for actually seeking out feedback on their product and trying to fix issues that come up.
Comments
5 responses to “Testing Windows Live Writer with WordPress 2.1”
Strangely enough the xmlrpc upload feature does actually work in WP 2.1. It was broken in the beta somehow, as you pointed out earlier.
Windows Live Writer is compelling in a lot of ways, but I am a bit skeptical with the way it handles images. For instance aligning them using align=”right”. I need class=”right” and so I have to edit the source before uploading. Plus the whole image editing feels a little uncertain, I mean you don’t really know what you get in terms of image compression. Bandwidth matters after all. One other thing I’d love to see is setting for file naming when uploading. Ideally, I’d see the original file name. Maybe with the current date appended. But preferably uploaded using WP’s new folder structure, i.e. uploads/2007/01/file.ext. As you have no doubt discovered the current scheme just drops the files in uploads/. And naming is more than a little peculiar: “second_life.gif” in post titled “get a first life” became “windowslivewritergetafirstlife-c5efsecond-life5.gif”. I mean, come on!
If they can just fix this WLW will be perfect.
Bjorn, thanks for stopping by.
It is interesting to see that you do not like the way Live Writer handles images as for me it is one of its most compelling features. The fact that it actually resizes not only your thumbnail to whatever your decide but the original to IMO is great. This has allowed me to ass more visualizations to my posts without having to crack open Photoshop every time.
In reference to the aligning issue I think that may have something to do with your individual blog template or setup as it works fine for me with the downloadable version of WordPress. On WordPress.com though that is another story, I do have that issue and always have to use WordPress.com’s editor to align the image (they do not support CSS in posts).
Finally about file name and location – I agree about the file name – either keep the original file name intact or give the option to change it (both options would actually be great!). In regards to the upload location this is something that you configure yourself in WordPress (downloadable version). I currently have mine set to /images/. You change this by going to Options > Miscellaneous. It is the option labeled “Uploading”. In this section you have the option to whether you want the uploads separated into year/month. Also you need to make sure that you have the correct permissions on the folder so that WordPress can actually upload to that director.
A long comment but hopefully the above pearls of wisdom will help you to get the most out of Windows Live Writer and WordPress.
Thank you for your input,
With regard to the resizing, I do support the feature per se, and after some fiddling around I did realize that you can get the original image uploaded. I agree that it can save a lot of time in PS, but sometimes you also have images that you have previously optimized in PS to the last pixel and byte and I was concerned that WLW would somehow tamper with the original.
Aligning works, sure, but align=”right” feels a little bit last century. And considering they did all that work with image handling I am surprised no one thought of adding attributes like class, id or alt. I thought alt was required for valid xhtml for instance.
Also I’d like to see the final image size of both the thumb and the linked image before I upload. I’m still a little finicky about that.
As for the folder structure, it was a false alarm. The picture ended up in a sub-folder all along. Sorry 🙂 But the renaming still sucks. I wonder if I can append some code in the XML-RPC interface that strips the WLW text from the filename.
Hopefully, someone from Microsoft will be reading this 🙂 And while they’re at it, I hope they fix Word 2007 as well. It’s also a brilliant editor especially with the proofing and all, but image handling is a deal breaker here as well.
What I meant to say about the alt attribute is that they should always be included, even if they’re empty — alt=”” — right? Likewise, there should be a title attribute also, right?
I think the important thing to remember is that Live Writer is in Beta, and from what I can tell the issue with it being it Beta is that it may be lacking features as opposed to being filled with bugs. I believe that as it evolves that Microsoft will add more features that will make more people happy.
For me though, Live Writer is my preferred blogging desktop client.