Using GreatNews and Zoundry together

G'day! Thanks for returning!

Lee likes Zoundry - stop the presses! In a blinding example of RTFM, I have configured my GreatNews rss aggregator/news reader and Zoundry offline blog editor to work together. [Update: read this 'how to']

I downloaded and installed the latest version of GreatNews and tried the ‘blog it’ text link, still to no avail. But then I tried again, selecting ‘configure…’ instead of my saved configuration for Zoundry.

Selecting ‘generic external blog tool‘ instead of the first option ‘generic’ made the world of difference

Voila — works like a treat!

The more I use Zoundry the more I am impressed.

Sure, as Dave Briggs and others have pointed out, the GUI needs a bit of a workup, especially as the buttons are tiny for these old and tired eyes, but Pidge from Zoundry has taken great pains on comments to my and others’ posts to elicit feedback, both good and bad, as well as ideas for improvement.

It does a lot of the things I want in a blog editor, and Pidge explained that some of my wishlist was in the realm of the blog platform developers, not blog editor developers (such as integration with comments, plug-ins, etc.,).

I still have reservations about the longer-term security of the product; that is, how will it continue to be funded for future development, once the ‘lovefest’ and ‘hobby’ nature of the developers gives way to exhaustion and a real-world need to pay bills. Perhaps a larger dev house like Macromedia or Microsoft will buy them and incorporate their tool into their offering (surely Adobe/Macromedia must be considering some sort of editor tool??), but for now I am very happy.

Also, I just noticed that it somehow seamlessly updated any posts I had updated online. Let me explain…

Zoundry downloads your existing posts when it installs a blog, but what happens if you use your blog’s online interface to edit an existing post? How does Zoundry’s database on your hard drive cope with that?

Seamlessly, it seems. I just went to check Zoundry’s version of a post I had edited online and the additions I had made to my post were there. Nice touch! Not sure how they did it, but nice touch…

Zoundry So my beloved RocketPost, laid to rest as it has been, has been replaced in my affections by Zoundry (at least temporarily, but I am aware that I was a massive evangelist for RocketPost and that came around and bit me sharply on the derriere).

Well done, Pidge and your team. And well done for your outreach efforts to enter into conversation with bloggers.

Technorati Tags: GreatNews, Zoundry

Tagged as: blogging, tools

Lee

Hi Sab,

The bookshelf is progressing a little slower than I'd like, but that's just client nervousness and a busy period for them (they are moving to new premises shortly and there's lots of technology buying decisions to make).

But have you seen the figures for my psychology clients? WOW!! Very impressed - as I write they have 101 rss subscribers and 93 feedblitz subscribers. I'm impressed!
Lee

G'day Mike,

Well, they reckon they can, and good luck to them. The more I use Zoundry, the more I am enamoured -- tiny buttons not withstanding. But there are enough keyboard shortcuts there that I could completely circumvent them if I could be bothered to learn them ;-) No doubt over time I will pick them up.
dcypl

After much deliberation, I'm back with Zoundry for amny of the same reasons you are.
I was using Qumana but didn't like links not being finished, and not being able to escape the blockquote without going into the source. Same problem with performancing for Firefox. Qumana has version bough for distro with Lycos, and do ads similar to Zoundry, could they make enough money with these features?
Sab

I think I caught that, but it was over so quickly. Hope you were pleased with the bookshelf link. Any progress there? Are you tracking the numbers or rather not look?
Lee

Ahh, the podcast, Sab... Tis a sad and sorry tale of late nights, demanding clients, a family to entertain and only 24 hours in a day.

But it's a monthly gig now (yes, I wish it could be more frequent, too, but paying work and my family must come first), the last edition arriving in a podcatcher near you on the 8th April.

Yes, it means another is due shortly -- keep those earbuds warm, my friend!
Sab

Well, now that you can leave these woes behind, tell us about the bookshelf and what else is going on? What's up with the podcast mate?