dirtystylus

Blogging on the iPad

I wrote the last post “Not If, But When” on the iPad, using the iOS WordPress app. That was my first attempt at writing more than tweets on the iPad. I noticed a few things: I found that typing a long-form piece was a slower experience, but completely workable. I was frustrated, however, by the lack of any clear way to create links. After some more experimentation I found that starting to type “http://” makes the app ask you if you want to create a link. It would be nice to have a dedicated button, or at the very least a quick introductory message showing how to create one.

I wrote this post by starting it as a draft in Mars Edit, and then continuing it in the WordPress iOS app. I can imagine that my usual process will most likely involve the reverse: starting a post in iOS and finishing it in Mars Edit.

I still don’t see how to create curled quote marks with the software keyboard; I imagine that hooking up a Bluetooth keyboard is the only way to get those. I just installed a Markdown plugin on this blog, and using that syntax on the iOS app surprisingly works. So that gives me support for things like emphasis and blockquotes. Not bad.

Get the Puck to the Net

I enjoyed this post by Corey Vilhauer on the challenge of blogging. I can certainly relate to the feeling that every single post has to be perfect. He puts it this way:

Instead of getting hits when I can, I’ve been aiming for home runs. I’ve been waiting for the perfect pitch. I’ve been striking out looking.

I’m not a baseball fan, but as a hockey fan I think of a similar cliché: just get the puck to the net, and good things will happen.

Sony’s E-book

From earlier this week: my look at Sony’s Reader Digital Book (such an awkward name), over at Greensearch.

I enjoyed my short time using the Sony Reader, and I would really like to try Amazon’s Kindle just to compare the two. I keep wondering whether both products are too narrowly-focused to make a big impact, however. The whole time I was using the reader I found myself dreaming up a possible alternative — perhaps a larger cousin to the iPhone which also had an e-book reader application, instead of a dedicated e-book reader.