Test Post from Qumana (kinda)

First let me say that this post is almost meaningless because I couldn't even post from Qumana. It gave me an error when I clicked Publish, even tough it first told me that it was successful (but wasn't really). Just because I spent the time preparing this post, I feel like it'd be a waste not to go ahead and publish it. Even if you don't find it useful, it will probably prove useful to me later.

——BEGIN POST FROM QUMANA——

I'm looking into finding a good way to post blogs from my Macs. I may end up just using the web interface, but I figure I ought to give due diligence to checking out other options. Today I am checking out Qumana.

Positives of Qumana
I'll start out by looking for things I like about this application. It is very easy to figure out; its features aren't hidden behind a plethora of menus. I like that the buttons aren't really small, either. You just really see what everything does, yet it remains uncluttered. I like the layout, too. It is really easy to use. That's the main point for which I'm going here.

It also has a nice way to compose in HTML or WYSIWYG. That's a handy little thing to have. (Of course, the web interface has this, too.)

Any Negatives?
I think that this app works fairly well, but it does have some drawbacks. The keyboard shortcuts aren't all working as the normally do within OS X. It seems to have been written in Java, so the overall look-and-feel of the application is inconsistent with that of native apps and with the OS X interface.

I also just realized that in-line spell checking is not supported in this editor. There is a menu option to perform a spell check, though, it just isn't very fast compared to what users would be used to.

And as I went back to add the bit about the lack of spell checking, I noticed a peculiar behavior. If you have a paragraph entered and then you go back and insert more text above that one, it doesn't really bump the existing text down very well. You don't lose what you had entered, but you do have to scroll the text-entry area up and down to force the app to redraw it correctly.

Pros of Using a Blogging App
Well, if for some reason I don't have access to internet, I suppose I could use one such app to prepare my posts, and then publish them once I regain access. As I was writing this, I scoffed to myself at the prospect of having no internet, but I suppose with my upcoming military involvement, that may not be so absurd. Of course, another approach may be to just write up my reports in a simple text file, or even on paper, and then publish it later.

If a native software solution was good enough, its interface could provide a smoother, faster, better way of composing the new post and otherwise preparing to publish it.

Conclusion
As I was composing this, I tried to think about why I even wanted an application for doing this instead of just using the web interface. I couldn't really come up with any good reasons. I did come up with a reason not to use one: I don't like having extra apps needlessly. If I can do it from my browser, why run an extra app that is going to suck up my resources?

So taking into consideration that I don't like using specific apps if I can avoid it, and, as I mentioned above, a native software application would have to be very good with regard to functionality and usability, I've decided I'm not going to be using Qumana. I think it is a pretty solid app, but I'm not sure I like the behavior and interface quirks I've been able to notice just in the time it took to compose this entry. If I end up without internet, I'll make do with TextEdit and/or a traditional journal.

Apology & Closing
Sorry for making you read this, but I think it was a good thing for me to do because now I know a little bit more of what I'm looking for in a blogging application.

All for now...
Caleb.

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