Since nobody seems to care about the lack of a decent blogging app for iPad, I decided to come out with my own post about it. I’ve been thinking about this for months now (since April, the day after I got my iPad), and while I thought I could maybe find the time to look for an iOS developer and start my own “team of two” to develop the app, I just don’t want to wait anymore. So developers, here’s what I - and hundreds of other bloggers using an iPad - need.
For the sake of this article, let’s just call the app “BlogApp”. I know, I suck at choosing names. BlogApp is a full-featured WordPress client for iPad which allows you write and post articles. It’s got all the basic features of a text editor and a WordPress client: it allows you to write in a clutter-free environment, but it can also handle rather complex features such as WordPress’ custom fields, tags, excerpts and media management. It combines the simplicity of Simplenote and Writer to the power of MarsEdit for Mac and the features of the online WP interface.
BlogApp is an iPad app. It’s meant to run on the iPad, let you write on the iPad - it’s built around the unique features and capabilities of this device. It’s a good-looking app with a beautiful UI design, especially when it comes to dealing with media management menus and other WordPress-related stuff. A custom UI shouldn’t distract you from your main purpose, though: publishing content on your WordPress-based weblog.
BlogApp doesn’t let you play around with WordPress settings: sure you can create new categories and custom fields, edit published posts and quickly moderate comments, but you can’t customize the way your whole website works. You’ll have to login the WP admin panel for that. BlogApp is ultimately an app to blog and manage everything related to posts. Everything else is secondary.
BlogApp is an application for bloggers who want to write and publish posts from their iPads, period. It’s powered by an intuitive navigation, a smart cache management system for images and published posts, it allows you to insert links in your posts with a few taps. That’s one of the most important features I’m looking forward to: a fully working and intuitive WYIWYG interface to quickly adjust the look of a post basing on your blog’s needs. The bloggers among you will understand me.
This is what we need. Developers, here’s a free idea for you. There’s a huge market out there for a great blogging app, so if you decide to start developing something like this…we’d love to take a look at it.
