For the record, tools are important. The tools you use should reflect your style of work and should become part of everything you do. Using the right tool for the job is most important. You wouldn't necessarily use a hammer to change a light bulb, or a chainsaw to open your mail, so why would you use a Windows tool to write a blog when you are on a Mac?
Here's what I have tentatively settled on for tools while writing this blog:
- ecto - Desktop blogging software. I'm familiar with a few Windows based apps, but being a recent Mac convert, I felt it necessary to stay native to Mac. I'm currently writing this with the version 3 beta for OS X 10.4 and 10.5 which is a 21 day trial with a $17.95 price tag.
- w.bloggar - Freeware PORTABLE Windows based desktop blogging tool. I can also blog at work when I have a few moments.
- c# code format - By day, I'm a C# ASP.NET programmer, and since this blog will more than likely lean toward that topic, a code formatter is necessary. It's free, and easy. I don't need a whole lot of fancy stuff right at this minute, and I don't have time to write my own, so I'll use this.
- Blogger - Duh. Yeah, there are other blog hosts out there, but this one I'm familiar with. If I could find a free host that uses dasBlog, I'd jump on it in a heartbeat.
That's my initial list of tools. I looked into such things as iWork '08's Pages and iLife's iWeb, but didn't see anything that would fit my needs. So, I'll stick with these for now and report my findings as I go along.
Next: Becoming a website (blog) layout designer.
UPDATE: I recently purchased ecto. It's pretty good for what I want to use for my blog. And as far as using w.bloggar and ecto together, if I'm doing something at work, I'll have to save the post as a draft to blogger then download it at home with ecto. Kinda rude, but it'll work 'til I get a Mac at work. (Like THAT will EVER happen...)
