MarsEdit

MarsEdit is a weblog client for Macintosh OS X available from www.ranchero.com. A 30-day trial version is free. We used version 1.1.2 in writing this chapter.

Extensive help is available from the application's Help menu.

To set MarsEdit preferences

1.	Open MarsEdit. If you have never used it before a Getting Started window is displayed (Figure 32). Figure 32. When you first start MarsEdit it displays a Getting Started screen. Enter your blog's name and address to begin.
2.	Fill in the name and URL of your blog: Weblog name: use a name that is meaningful to you. If you use MarsEdit to post to several blogs, this name will let you know which one you're working with. Weblog URL: the address for your blog. For example: http://www.firstbite.co.nz/vqs or http://wpvqs.wordpress.com.
3.	Click the OK button. MarsEdit attempts to automatically obtain the settings it requires. If it has a problem it will display an alert (Figure 33). Click the Edit Settings button to continue setting the preferences or the Cancel button to continue to the main MarsEdit window with incorrect settings.
4.	If you choose to Edit Settings by hand the Blog settings dialog is displayed (Figure 34). Figure 34. I have entered the settings for my blog in MarsEdit.
5.	Click on the System tab button to configure the base settings: Name is any name you wish to use for your blog inside MarsEdit. It does not need to be the same name that appears on your blog. Figure 33. MarsEdit could not successfully obtain the settings it needed, so edit them manually. Home URL is the address for your blog. For example: http://www.firstbite.co.nz/vqs or http://wpvqs.wordpress.com. Software is the system your blog is using. Set this to WordPress. RPC URL is the address of the xmlrpc file. The address for this file is the address for your blog, followed by /xmlrpc.php. For example: http://www.firstbite.co.nz/vqs/xmlrpc.php or http://wpvqs.wordpress.com/xmlrpc.php. Blog ID is usually 1 for a WordPress blog. Number of posts to download is the number of recent posts MarsEdit will automatically download. We suggest you set this to a number between 10 and 30.
6.	Click the OK button (Figure 34). The blog is added to the list of blogs in the Weblogs Drawer.

To edit an existing post

1.	Open MarsEdit. If necessary, choose View > Show Weblogs to display the Weblogs Drawer.
2.	Click once on the name of your blog in the Weblogs Drawer to select it (Figure 35). Figure 35. I have selected my 'test' blog in the MarsEdit Weblogs Drawer.
3.	Choose View > Refresh.
4.	MarsEdit displays a dialog box requesting your username and password if you have never worked with this blog before, or have not saved the password. Enter the requested information (Figure 36). Click the OK button. Figure 36. Supply your username and password so that MarsEdit can contact the server and interact with your blog.
5.	MarsEdit displays a list of recent posts in the MarsEdit window (Figure 37). Figure 37. MarsEdit displays a list of recent posts, displaying the selected post in the Preview pane.
6.	Double-click an existing post in the list of recent posts to open it for editing.
7.	Make changes as you wish.
8.	When you have finished editing choose File > Send to Weblog. MarsEdit sends the edited post to your blog to replace the previous content and closes the Post window. The list of recent posts in the MarsEdit main window is refreshed.

Tips

• Turn on the Store password in keychain check box to avoid having to enter the password each time you work with your blog.

• MarsEdit allows you to also edit the time stamp, trackbacks, and enclosures. With a post open, check the Post menu for possibilities.

To create a new post

1.	Open MarsEdit and choose File > New Post. The post window opens.
2.	Create your post: Title: the title you enter here will appear as the heading for your post. URL: this field displays only for WordPress.com blogs, not for server-installed blogs (Figure 38). If you edit an existing WordPress.com post the URL field displays the URL for the post. Figure 38. The URL field is displayed in a Post window only if you are working with a WordPress.com blog. Text area: write your post in the main text area. Assign categories to your post by choosing Post > Show Options. The Categories drawer is displayed (Figure 39). Check and uncheck categories as required. Figure 39. Choose categories and set options for Formatting, Comments and TrackBacks in the Categories Drawer. Use the HTML Tags pop-up in the Toolbar to help with entering HTML (Figure 40). Figure 40. Use the HTML Tags pop-up to help enter HTML tags. The Custom pop-up allows you to create your own tags.
3.	When you have finished editing choose File > Send to Weblog to send the post to your blog. The Post window closes and the post is added to the blog. The list of recent posts in the MarsEdit Main Window is refreshed.

To add an image or file to a post

1.	Open MarsEdit and create a new post or edit an existing post.
2.	Place the cursor where you wish the file to be inserted.
3.	Choose Window > Images & Files. The Images & Files window is displayed (Figure 41). Choose the settings to use: Previous tab: click on this tab to choose a previously uploaded image or other file. Choose File: click this button to upload an image or other file. In the dialog window that opens, navigate your hard drive and select the file to add to your blog then click the Open button. Weblog: use the pop-up to choose the blog to which you want to upload. Path: you can leave this blank unless you want to upload the file to a non-standard location. Align: choose an alignment for the image within the post. Although MarsEdit will write alignment code for images, it will not do so for files. Figure 41. The MarsEdit Images & Files dialog box. Add new files with the Choose File button or browse files you've used previously by selecting the Previous tab.
4.	Click the Upload & Insert button. The file is uploaded to your blog, HTML coding is inserted in the Post window, and the Images & Files window remains open on screen.
5.	Upload any further files, as required. Use the red Close button to close the window when you're finished.
6.	Check the HTML coding added to the post, in particular editing image alt text and file link text to meet best practice requirements (Figure 42). Figure 42. MarsEdit has uploaded my file and image and entered the HTML code. I've edited the link text and alt text to meet standards of best practice. This post is ready to be sent to the server.
7.	Choose File > Send to Weblog to send the post to your blog. The Post window closes and the post is added to the blog. The list of recent posts in the MarsEdit Main Window is refreshed.

Tips

• Choose Post > Show Preview to preview your post before committing it to your blog.

• If you choose None for the image alignment MarsEdit creates an align tag with an empty value. This will cause validation problems. Either choose to align Right or Left or edit the HTML MarsEdit inserts to remove: align="".