BlogJet is a desktop blogging application which allows the user to update their blog without needing to open their web browser to do so. The review below is focused on BlogJet version 1.5, the latest stable release available for download at their website.

Website: http://www.blogjet.com/
Price: free trial, then $39.95 + 30 day money back guarantee

BlogJet Strong Points:

  • WYSIWYG style interface
  • Outputs compliant XHTML code
  • Allows a user to edit in code view and also allows a preview of the entry before posting
  • FTP client for uploading files
  • Statistics provide a quick overview of the word count, character count, and number of paragraphs.
    • This helps a lot if you have writing goals to meet with each post.
  • Firefox extension allows you to quickly create a new blog entry while surfing the internet (they also have an Internet Explorer equivalent).
  • Quick tabs for code view and extended entries
  • Supports drag and drop text from browsers
  • Can quickly create recordings and attach them to the post - great for audio blogging
  • Group posting allows publication of the entry to more than one blog at a time (however, you cannot select the categories on an individual blog basis)
  • Multiple posting windows so you can work on more than one blog entry at a time
    • It also has an option to minimize each window to the system tray which frees up toolbar space
  • Publish as draft which means you would still be able to edit the post from any browser without needing to publish it for the world to see first.
  • Supports time stamp editing to future date posts.

BlogJet Weak Points:

  • Blog set up information needs to be manually entered for each blog.
    • While the set up of new blogs may not be entirely difficult, there is still room for the novice to get hung up and each of the new blog information needs to be typed in individually.
  • Can’t relocate the quick tabs.
    • Many browsers and editing programs have their quick tabs on the top, so having the quick tabs on the bottom of the blogging application doesn’t seem very intuitive (for me personally)
  • Despite the cute icons, the interface seems lacking. There are only a few graphical buttons to choose from, the remainder of the features need to be selected from the menu and there is no way to customize the toolbar beyond what is already there
    • No advanced paragraph formatting for elements such as headings, pre, blockquote, etc. - they need to be manually entered in the code view
  • Compatibility issues with version 1.5 of WordPress.
    • Try as I might, none of the BlogJet posts actually show up on my WordPress 1.5 blogs although the posts show up in the “Manage->Posts” admin panel.
    • I’ve tested different blogs on different servers. However, I was able to publish to a WordPress 1.5.1.2 blog without issues.*
  • Entry date issues. It seems that BlogJet sends the time with the post and that throws WordPress and TypePad off. Because of this, some of the posts don’t show up and other seem to have been posted hours earlier/later.
    • While a work around is to change the blog’s time zone settings, it shouldn’t be a necessity.**

Final Thoughts on BlogJet:

After my initial install and set up of BlogJet, I realized the interface and structure was nearly identical to w.Bloggar, so if you’re familiar with setting up w.Bloggar, setting things up in BlogJet shouldn’t be too different.

BlogJet has some really great features such as the post statistics, quick audio recording, and multiple posting windows. I would definitely say it’s a great application, especially for audio bloggers, and it can easily handle multiple blog management. If you’re still using WordPress 1.5, I’d suggest upgrading, however, if that’s not an option you may have to wait for the next release of BlogJet.

* The issues with WordPress 1.5 will most likely be corrected in the upcoming release version.

** This has been discussed on the BlogJet forums and BlogJet is working on a fix for their upcoming release version.