BlogJet 1.2 Beta Is Significant Improvement

I downloaded the BlogJet 1.2 Beta this afternoon. I used it to write my last post—and this one. It looks like Dmitry has addressed the few complaints I had when I first reviewed the program this summer (see My BlogJet Wish List and Blogging: A Tale of Two Tools). Specifically, it has the ability to:

• Make extended posts
• Use Image thumbnails
• Publish entries at specific dates and times
• Ping a list of URLs
• Enter typographic characters (e.g., real quote marks, em dashes, etc.)

In addition to addressing my original issues, it sports a new code editor with syntax highlighting and “code completion.” In my opinion, the improvements now give BlogJet the edge over ecto.

I’m only missing two items from ecto. First, ecto’s Preview Entry feature is really cool. It uses my blog’s style sheet to show me what the entry will look like before posting it. The BlogJet WYSIWYG editor is close enough, so I think I can live without the ecto feature. Also, it appears that I have to enter my ping list into BlogJet every time I make an entry. Bummer. Hopefully, this is something that can be fixed, since this is only a beta.

If you’ve been searching for a really simple, intuitive offline blogging client, BlogJet may be just the ticket.