NovaBlog is Born for One-Touch Blogging
The Struggle of a Fly in the Web
I want my development to fly! ... but am tangled by the web. Those that know me know that I am not a fan of web development due to the additional constraints and limitations of the browser based model. With separate languages and platforms for server-side, client-side, and visual rendering, disconnected client-server interfaces, protocol lag time, etc, there are many more facets to deal with than rich-client development. The web based administration interface to my blog is not as convenient as I'd like, hence I don't post as often as I'd like and computers become more frustrating, the antithesis of my philosophy that computers should make life more convenient (and enjoyable).
Attempted Solutions
Scott Watermasysk discusses Desktop Blogging for .Text blogs and has some good ideas. So I tried a Windows based blogging tool, w:bloggar, which is designed to make life easier ... sounds good! Newzcralwer looked powerful, but contained to many knowledge points (complexity) for my taste. These tools are made possible by the joys of the MetaWeblogAPI (built upon the Bloggar API) and XML Remote Procedure Calls (RPC).
Customized Gateway
To further my goal, I want custom tags for headers, code coloring sections, etc. w:bloggar does not have support for custom parsing (pre-posting) built in so I created my own MetaWeblogAPI XML-RPC gateway. w:bloggar's traffic would flow through it, my parser, then to my main blog's API. This worked, but too much time was spent on considerable overhead than on the actual parsing engine. Once again my balance of productivity was skewed (as I feel with web development). w:bloggar also had some difficulty with the MetaWeblogAPI and .Text which made it look buggy (frustration) and it still wasn't just as efficient as possible.
Code Syntax Coloring
An earlier post discusses how to copy and paste from Word. Then why I abandon that method due to Word's HTML inflation. Eric J. Smith informed me of Actipro Software's free ASP.NET based code highlighter which can be easily converted to a Web Service and used from a Windows application. This is working, but still adds more HTML overhead than is necessary. Any other suggestions are welcome!
What I Want!
More time with my girlfriend! And to accomplish this, One-Touch basic blogging deployment with custom parsed tags using simple and easy tools.
The Lightbulb Brightens
Then is dawned on me! My #1 used application is UltraEdit, a powerful text editor. Combined with 4NT, an advanced command interpreter, and the app I've used the longest, this makes a powerful combination. Together I have UltraEdit and 4NT set up to compile/parse/run/debug/download/assemble over a dozen file formats with just one button press, F5. Why not leverage this for my blogging!?
My Solution for Easy Blogging, NovaBlog
So I created a custom pseudo-XML file format to contain each blog article which I edit in UltraEdit. Then NovaBlog magically appeared as a new project in Visual Studio. It morphed into a (for now) command line app that parses my custom tags and sends the appropriate XML-RPC calls to create or update the post on my blog's web site and concludes by loading the article for approval. Finally! One touch deployment! My girlfriend appreciates the time saved on each post, my life is easier, effort is reduced, convenience restored, and life is once again beautiful...