Having given Windows Live Writer a run for its money I have decided that I will not be using it. It simply fails to meet my requirements.
I run three blogs: this one, an analogous one on Blogger and my French language blog. I would therefore need a blog editor which 1. makes it easy to post an article written for WordPress to Blogger (and perhaps vice versa); 2. has both English and French spelling checkers.
I have found that if I write an article for WordPress, there is no obvious way to post this also to Blogger using WLW. I would have to copy and paste the code either from the WordPress section of WLW or from the blog to the Blogger editor. I suspect, though I haven’t checked this, that if I did this, the resulting text would not necessarily be optimized for Blogger, though I might be wrong about that.
Realizing there was no French dictionary but that there was a drop-down window in the dictionary section of the spelling checker settings, I assumed that all I had to do was to go onto the Windows Live site and download a French dictionary. I assumed wrong.
Not finding a French dictionary nor any mention of one in help, the FAQs or the user forum, I decided to email support. The reply I received was so sweet that I will quote it in full here.
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Hello SilverTiger, Thank you for writing to Windows Live Writer Technical Support. My name is Alvin and I understand that you are inquiring about having a French spelling dictionary in Windows Live Writer. I realize the importance of addressing your concern. By default, the spell checker/dictionary that you will have depends on the Writer version/ language you have installed. If you downloaded the English/ US version of Writer but want to have French dictionary, then, you have to install the French version of Writer. For the instructions on how to do this, please visit: http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/writergeneral/thread/ccdbddd7-8822-45bd-bcaa-0f22b11953f0/ We appreciate your continued support as we strive to provide you with the highest quality service available. Thank you for using Windows Live Writer. Sincerely, Alvin Support Specialist |
While I was tickled pink that he “realize[d] the importance of addressing [my] concern”, I had to email Alvin back telling him that he had understood half of my concern and that I required dictionaries in both English and French. I suggested that if I followed his advice, the French version of WLW would install over the English version, rendering it inaccessible.
During the night, a reply reached me. Maybe Alvin was too embarrassed to write or maybe he had gone off duty. Either way, the author of this email was a certain Geri. Geri agreed with me that the French version would merely overwrite the English version, but maybe you would like to read his/her reply for yourself:
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Hello SilverTiger, Thank you for writing back to Windows Live Writer Technical Support. My name is Geri. I understand that you need both an English and a French spelling checker. SilverTiger, we currently do not have an option to install or use both different versions of Windows Live Writer to use the dictionary feature. Once you update it to a different language, you can no longer use the English language version. However, I will see to it that this concern will reach our product development team as a feature request. While I cannot provide specific details on when this feature might be included, we are always looking for opportunities to improve your Windows Live experience. Your feedback is of great help in our drive to continually improve our products and services. We appreciate your continued support as we strive to provide you with the highest quality service available. Thank you for using Windows Live Writer. Sincerely, Geri |
So my “concern” will be passed on to the product developers who will no doubt drop everything and rejig the program so as to meet my requirements, right? You may think so but I won’t be holding my breath.
To check spelling in both languages I would have to compose and check the spelling of at least one language in another editor and then copy/paste it into WLW but that would be ridiculous. What’s the point when I can compose and spell-check in both languages in my text editor? No point at all.
I would also have to fiddle with the source code in order to put captions on my photos. Yes, I could do that using tables but in that case I would have have to add a lot of extra text if I wanted to change the size of the font in the caption, for example. And what’s the point of doing that when I can do it much more easily in my text editor? No point at all.
There are a few other niggles with WLW that I won’t bother you with but which hinder rather than help me. All in all, then, this is not the tool for me and I will not be using it.
Was it a waste of time to try it, then? Not exactly: it at least allowed me to eliminate this software from consideration which, if a negative result, still has its uses. It also showed me that the way I do things, with my home-grown templates, is at least as efficient as the average blog editing software.


















