We all know there are many blogging platforms, TypePad, WordPress, SubText and BlogEngine. We also know that adding new posts usually means working through an administration or control panel provided by one of the various blog applications. But did you know that by using an api available from the most common blog tools, you can easily post to your blog from a Google Docs Document? And the great thing is that you don't have to be a programmer to do it!
Why Post From Google Documents?
There are several reasons that you might want to be able to create posts in a different application and import them into your blog. For instance, imagine you are creating a long post. If you are using one of the blog applications, then it is likely that the height and width of the text boxes that are used for entering the contents of your post are confined to the width of the HTML page. The problem is that it is difficult to quickly scan through your post. Doing so requires that you scroll to be able to read the content not visible on the page. This can cause you to lose your train of thought. Usually the text box can be expanded to the whole page, but I usually forget it is there when focusing in on the content for the post.
Wouldn't it be great to use a familiar interface such as Microsoft Word? Well you can, and it is simple. Just create a free google account, then you can open and use a Google Docs Document. Google Docs offers a word processing system similar to Microsoft Word. The difference between Google Docs and Microsofts Office is that Google Docs is completely online and completely FREE. And as you will see below there are many other benefits to using an online word processor verses a desktop one. Also many of the familiar and most useful formatting elements that exist in Microsoft Word are available for formatting a Google Docs Document. And plus, you only have a larger editable area and only have to scroll when you have written several paragraphs.
Sometimes a printed version of a post is needed or you need to email a version for review. Because Google Docs is online, if you wanted to email a post to a publisher for printing, you could simply click the email link in Google Docs and it would send the post in a printable format, even a .pdf, that the recipient could easily use or convert to Microsoft Word.
Do you ever need to allow several people to work on the same document? Well in Google Docs, many people can easily collaborate on a single document. The author can share it with edit permissions by simply entering the email address of the person to share with, and no it doesn't have to be a gmail account. Then that person, an editor for instance, can open the Google Docs Document make the required spelling and grammar fixes then save it. The author will immediately see the changes to the document!
Ok, I Have A Google Docs Account, How Do I Publish To My Blog?
It is simple. You will need to know the URL to the api for your blog. I use BlogEngine.net so, the api URL is http://www.pencilsintheceiling.com/metaweblog.axd. You can find the api URL in the documentation for you blog platform. You will need the user name and password for the author for the post. Finally you will need to know which api standard your blog is supporting. Again you can find this in the blog documentation.
Now you are ready to post to your blog. First use your amazing writing talent and create a Google Docs Document. Once you are ready to publish it, select the Publish tab at the top of the document. Next setup Google Docs to have access to your blogs api. Find the api URL mentioned above, and enter it in the text box labeled URL. Make sure and also select the correct api, which you can find by searching your blog platforms documentation.
You should not able able to click the 'Test' button. If everything is configured properly you are ready to publish. Click 'OK' to close the settings window. Click the 'Publish Post' button and Voilà! Your post is automatically added to your blog.
Once it is there, you can update the content using Google Docs and selecting the 'Republish Post' button. So what are you waiting for? Get started!
And in case you were wondering. Yes, I wrote this post in a Google Docs Document.
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