I thought it would be a great idea for me to document what my requirements are for a blogging tool. Now that I’m actually writing articles to be posted on my blog, my requirements are becoming more defined for a blog publishing tool. Documenting my requirements is a great way for me to stay on track and, if a the perfect product doesn’t exist, the requirements list is a great start for a programming project for myself.
Here’s my on-going requirements (wish) list:
- An AWESOME Editor – please, I don’t want to be delving into HTML tags while I’m creating content. The editor should be very much like any word processing editor. Simple. Hide the hard parts from me.
- Ease of use – I want to write, not configure and tweak things forever.
- Full automation of graphics uploads – not only does the tool must let me create blogs, but also embed graphics into them. Once I’m ready to publish/post to my web server, the application will take care of the uploading of the appropriate graphics, etc.
- Cross-Platform (PC/Mac) – Since I have multiple platforms in the house, I’d like to be able to post from any of them. Linux would be great, however all my other tools are on Windows or Mac, so those two are mandatory.
- Full publishing lifecycle – the tool has to be able to allow me to edit, put into draft, and publish to my site.
- Off-line capability – for when I’m using the laptop – hence Mac compatibility needed. I hate running Parallels and/or Fusion for one application.
- "More" Tag compatibility – This is a new requirement I didn’t know I even needed until I started blogging! Any system that I choose must be able to understand the "more" tag in the blogging engines in use.
- Proper use of Tags – Although Technorati tag links are great, the tool has to be able to use the Tag structure within the blogging engine as well.
- Category Use and Maintenance – the tool must be able to manipulate categories for the site/articles.
Nice-to-haves:
- Mobile blogging – oh would love to have this feature. To be able to blog from anywhere would be awesome. As I find myself waiting in the car lines to pick up kids a lot, I have some time to burn. Also, this is different than an SMTP drop-box (security risk in my opinion) or and SMS message. I’m talking a full application running under WM6. Possibly as an add-on to Pocket Word.
- Archive of past articles – another nice-to-have is the ability to look at my already posted articles so that I can link to them, etc. This may not be a great thing as I can always via my articles via the web and link that way.
JT