A blog, or weblog, is an online journal. Blogging is a simple way to share your thoughts with anyone who has internet access. Journler can post your entries to a blog*, tracking which entries have been posted to which accounts.

Before posting an entry to the net you must first provide your blog's account information to Journler. From the Blog Preferences or when blogging an entry, register your account with the account wizard. If you do not alread have one, you can establish a blog with one of Journler's supported systems, including LiveJournal and blogs running the MetaWeblog API. The account wizard will walk you through the process.

Using iWeb instead? No problem. Read about Journler's Mail and iWeb integration.

Once you have entered your account information, use the Blog Entry command from the Entry menu or the Blog toolbar button to take an entry to the Blog Center. Journler's Blog Center makes it easy to add formatting to your entry so a web browser like Safari can properly display it. Add links, image links, paragraphs and other text styling, then preview it all before going live.

Links

To add a new link to your entry specifically for display on the web, click the Link toolbar button. At a minimum you'll need to enter the link's text and the link URL.

The link appears underlined blue in a web browser. A user can click it to go to the webpage pointed to by the link URL. The URL will look something like http://journler.com. It is the same line of text displayed at the top of your web browser whenever you visit an internet site.

Images

To add an image to your entry choose the Image toolbar button. The image must already be online in order for you to include it in an entry, and you must know the URL at which it is located. At a minimum you should enter the URL.

Posting or Saving Your Entry

Use the Web Preview option to see how your entry will appear online. Click the small browser icon at the top left of the window. Web preview uses the same technology as Safari and will give you a good idea of how your entry will look online. Once you are satisfied with the entry's appearance, save it as an HTML document or post it to one of your blogs. Press the Save toolbar button near the top right or Select an Account, set a few options and press the Post button.

Blogging Modes

The blogging center supports three modes, although you should only use two of them: Text, HTML and Preview mode. Preview mode may be used as often as you wish to check how your entry will appear online. However, you should choose between Text and HTML mode. Moving back and forth between those two modes will result in a loss of formatting. If you are HTML savy, use the HTML mode in comination with Preview. If HTML is not one of your strong points, go with Text mode, using Preview as often as needed.

* Journler's support for blogging is still quite limited at this time. Journler only support the LiveJournal system and some blogs running the Metaweblog API. Journler has only been thorougly tested with LiveJournal and WordPress, so blogging with your particular setup may not work. Additionally, images and other media attachments cannot be uploaded to your blog.

If you are a serious blogger and are looking for a way to manage multiple sites, Journler is not the solution for you, and it is strongly recommended that you go with one of the many, fine blogging programs available fo the Mac. Journler blogging will undergo an overhaul for a future release, but no timeframe is available.