Do you spend as much time formatting your blog posts as you actually writing them? WordPress is a fantastic blogging platform, but the included editor can be frustrating for those who would rather spend their time writing than mucking with formatting tags.

Over the past week I’ve spent a lot more time writing than mucking. This is due to the discovery of Windows Live Writer. Here are a few of the things I like the most:

1. Setup – Getting up and running was a cinch. All I had to do was install the program, give it my blog address along with my username and password and I was off and running. Painless.
   
2. Web Layout View – This pulls in the theme from your blog so that when you write, it looks just like your post will look. This lets me get the formatting down exactly how I want.
   
3. Image Handling – I used to spend a lot of time trying to format my images. So much so that I’d usually give up or just post a standard, inline picture and call it good. Now I can create posts like this one utilizing multiple imagines that take no time at all. The on-the-fly image resizing is just plain slick.
   
4. Performance – I don’t know how they did, but this is the first 3rd party editor that doesn’t upload as a snail’s pace. It posts content very quickly, even those with images.

There is a lot more to like in addition to the above such as the ability to insert tags, video, and maps from Windows Search Maps. The best compliment I can give any software is that it just works the way I work. And that’s how it is with Live Writer. It’s easy to use yet includes the advanced features more experienced bloggers have to expect. It’s actually fun to use.

Here is the main area of Live Writer. Basic formatting tools can be found from the top while more advanced formatting and content tools are positioned off to the right. Microsoft has raised the bar on what we should expect from an editor.