Sue and Martin in Mallorca 2019

Sue and Martin in Mallorca 2019
On the Archduke's Path in Mallorca

Friday 29 May 2015

Windows Live Writer and Blogger

 
I've been using Microsoft's 'Windows Live Writer' (WLW) as my desktop blog editor for years. I find the Blogger interface, being used for this entry, tedious and unsatisfactory, especially where copying and pasting from other documents, and image sizing are concerned. WLW is, by comparison, a delight to use.
 
I've encountered problems in the past. Uninstalling and re-installing the software has usually solved the problem.
 
On Tuesday 26 May I drafted a long post about our 'Cruising Trip' on Sunday. When I tried to post it I received a series of error messages, the first being the one being shown at the bottom of the image above.
 
I then spent several hours trying and failing to fix the problem, by way of a series of quite complicated (for me) procedures. 
 
I found a website that held reviews of Desktop Blogging Software (here). It rates WLW as head and shoulders above other software for a Windows computer.
 
I had another go at solving the problem yesterday. Failed.
 
This morning I discovered this website, from which I've reproduced the latest entry in the image above.
 
It appears that "Google have removed the ClientLogin endpoint which is what Windows Live Writer depended on to auth with", thus disabling what may be the best desktop editor for those of us who have 'Blogspot' blogs.
 
I'm not a techie, but I'm willing to have a go at solving easy problems. It seems now that Google have robbed me of several hours of my life.
 
I hope others have fared better, but I'm still in a quandary as to what to do next. Is any of this software worth installing?
 
I also wonder whether my sudden need to repeatedly refresh Blogspot blog pages to view images is something caused by Google.
 


9 comments:

Alan Sloman said...

Thank you for that, Martin.
I've been using WLW for years and this is disastrous, as I hate the Blogger interface.

It's Google being a bully again.
:-(

Phreerunner said...

Probably worth checking it's not working for you either, Alan, as sometimes these problems are poorly reported and limited to just a few users. But both computers we use with WLW are behaving in the way indicated in the image.

Alan Sloman said...

Yes.
Exactly the same message.
I see Old Mortality is suffering as well.
:-(

Phreerunner said...

There must be people all over the world wasting thousands of hours wrestling with this issue... it really does leave one wondering... (struggling to find words that aren't abusive)

Gayle said...

Fortunately I didn't waste hours, but only because I happened to see quite quickly that Mike Knipe was having the same problem. I did, however, waste valuable laptop battery in rebooting and fiddling around thinking that it was my mobile internet connection that was at fault. I do hope it gets resolved quickly, as I certainly can't be doing with having to use the Blogger interface.

Phreerunner said...

Good, your time was no doubt spent in a much preferable fashion. My 'other time' was spent mainly in a dentist's chair where two dentists took turns in trying to remove one of my wisdom teeth. Both failed. It wasn't a good day....

I'm also getting annoyed about the randomness of blogger images showing, and constantly needing to refresh the screen to make them appear, whereas Wordpress images are all there as normal.

Google - I'd be happy to pay a modest fee to use your Blogger/BlogSpot service if that would be any incentive for you to make it work sensibly, though I suspect you already get a good income from advertisers.

John J said...

ScribeFire works for me.

JJ

John J said...

ScribeFire WORKED for me....but not now.

Phreerunner said...

I wonder whether Google's removal of the 'ClientLogin endpoint', whatever that is, has affected more than just Windows Live Writer.

What are they trying to do, I wonder?