Windows Notepad is an inexpensive tool for preparing one’s blogs.  After one has gathered materials for a blog (mostly weblinks with commentaries and notes), one can  logoff from the web and start typing.  HTML tags would be limited to just the basic ones:

• the A HREF (very important element for a blog)
• the <img src> tag (for pictures that illustrate your main point)
• the <p> tags
• some formatting tags (bold, underline, italic)
• the list tags (unordered, ordered or definition)
• the <blockquote> tags (for long quotes obviously)

Once the article is finished, one can connect to the internet once more, log into one’s blog account and copy and paste into the blog’s text editor.  If there are pictures involved, one can upload these first into one’s web server or into an image hosting account, get the URL to the pictures and incorporate them into the blog.  The process will take only about five to fifteen minutes (if there is only one web-sized picture to upload) depending on the speed of one’s connection.  I know; I regularly do it.

One can also use blog software to cut internet time to a minimum.  There are a lot of these tools around.  If one is using FireFox, one can take advantage of their blog client plugin, ScribeFire.  LiveJournal has a client called “Semagic”.  There is also a full-featured blog client called Qumana which I used for the old Bible Notes.  Thingamablog is not really a blog client like the others.  It is actually a blog publisher that runs on Java. 

I am currently using BlogJet which unlike Qumana doesn’t need Java to run (the JRE files that cross-platform applications require, though free, can be costly, connection-wise).   Like Qumana, it supports several blog environments including but not limited to Blogger, LiveJournal, WordPress, Squarespace and Drupal.  I am using it primarily for the Mystical Geek and Nocturnal Intellections (this blog) though I have tested it also on Working On It.  Like the other blog clients mentioned above, BlogJet allows one to save one’s article as a draft for later posting.  This makes it ideal for offline-blogging.

Apart from the fact that BlogJet works without me having to download additional files, it is in active development.  This means that everytime WordPress or Squarespace makes a significant step forward in development, there would be a corresponding “update” in BlogJet’s current version.  (The reason why I gave up on Qumana is that it can no longer connect to the current version of Squarespace).  Secondly, BlogJet has an HTML code view that allows me to tweak the markup when needed.  Finally, because the interface looks so much like any Windows application, it isn’t difficult to figure out.

I’ve been using BlogJet for just a couple of days under its trial period.  I think I might purchase a license for it once the trial period is over.  From what I’ve seen, it is worth the buy.