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Ecto: blogging redefined
While there are a few feature differences in the app between the two platforms, I hear that they're pretty much on par with each other. However the OSX client (the one I'm using) is a little more advanced. Overall, Ecto is a lot like Quamana LE, which Jordan posted about a while back: it allows you to work with one or multiple blogs, and it's compatible with most of the big and even not-so-big blogging systems out there. Ecto also sports both rich text and HTML editing formats, and on OSX it supports the system wide spell-checking and Services. Essentially, Ecto has the basics down really well. The extras, which I'm only familiar with on OSX, are where Ecto really shines.
While both Windows and OSX clients allow you to pull a track's title from your favorite music apps like iTunes and Winamp, Ecto really pulls ahead on OSX by playing nicely with a boatload of other applications and web services. You can easily pull photos from iPhoto, create thumbnails for inserted movie files, send notifications with Address Book support, instert Amazon items (with affiliate links, if you like) pull news from a few RSS readers like NetNewWire/PulpFiction and post del.icio.us bookmarks and technorati tags. Ecto offers even more than this on both platforms, so check out the Windows and OSX feature lists for the full lowdown.
I highly recommend Ecto, as I've been using it for a year now on 3-5 blogs I've been writing for off and on. It has a powerful, customizable and streamlined interface that should have you up and running in no time.
Comments
3
Subscribe to commentsAkabaneJul 15th 2005 4:51PM
Ecto is really good but I still prefer Mars Edit for some reason. More lean, less bugs ? Don't know. I'm a fan of the Netnewswire coder I think. :)
David ChartierJul 15th 2005 5:02PM
You've got a good point Akabane - MarsEdit is definitely a bit leaner and streamlined for those who don't need every feature under the sun and then some. Maybe we can do a feature on blog apps one of these days for a good run through the top dogs.
Scott McNultyJul 20th 2005 3:28PM
I use MarsEdit as well because it gets out of my way and lets me blog. I tried ecto a while back and it was just too much. The screen was cluttered and it was distracting (though this was when they were using a number of palettes instead of one window, as it looks like they are doing now).