If you have been following my blog or twitter posts, you might have noticed my search for the best blogging application for the Mac. Out of the many recommendations I received, two applications were always mentioned…..MarsEdit 2 and ecto 3 (beta). So over the last couple of weeks I have downloaded and tried both applications, and today I will give my review of both and hopefully come to some decision on which one I will use on a regular basis.
User Interface
The main user interface of both apps are very similar in appearance, and both are fairly simple and not cluttered in any way. Each has a sidebar which allows you to add/edit/delete your blog accounts. Both applications also support a wide range of blogging platforms including WordPress and TypePad. MarsEdit lets you add the site url/name, and then MarsEdit will try to automatically detect your weblog settings. If for some reason you need to do it manually, that option is also available. Ecto also lets you enter your blog information in much of the same way, but ecto also has an “assistant” which can guide you through the process, which can be very helpful for new users.
The main view shows your posts associated with the chosen blog (if you have multiple blogs), and by clicking a title you can see the post in the preview pane. Double-clicking the posts will retrieve them and open them inside the editor window. Each also has a variety of options which you can edit, delete, modify, create new posts, and save drafts. If you don’t like, or just want to change the default toolbar layout, you can easily customize the toolbar to your liking.
As far as the main interface is concerned, both MarsEdit and ecto have similar design and function, and were very easy to start using.
Editor
The Editor is where we start to see some real differences between the two apps. Once again, both have a similar layout, but ecto has quite a few more options. The most notable being that ecto has a more rich text editor (and an HTML editor) as opposed to the Editor in MarsEdit, which is based in HTML text markup. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but new users and people who are not familiar or comfortable with html markups, might find ecto easier to use as it’s more WYSIWYG.
As I said, the text markup in MarsEdit is not really a problem, and in while writing several posts with it I found no problem formatting my posts. MarsEdit has a drop-down menu in the upper right hand corner which gives quick access to common markups such as bold, links, block quote, etc. They also make it easy to add your own markup macros which comes in very handy.
The basic editing functions in both are very easy to use, but for new users, ecto might be a slightly better choice, but anyone who is comfortable or willing to take on some text markup, MarsEdit will satisfy.
More “Advanced” Editing
Blogging today is much more than just simple text formatting, right? Media, whether it happens to be images, video, etc., is now common in blogging. You can add items like images by simple drag and drop, or through the Media Manager in MarsEdit, and the “Import Media” button in ecto. Another advantage ecto has is the ability to preview audio and video before inserting into a post.
Nothing particularly groundbreaking here, but my main interest was with how each integrated using images from Flickr. In the MarsEdit Media Manager, Flickr has it’s own section where it will show your Flickr account images and even let you search through them. The images are displayed as rows of thumbnails for easy viewing, and give you the options of selecting the size and alignment of the image to insert.
Ecto has the Flickr Helper option which is similar in function to MarsEdit, but has way more options. It will let you filter your images by sets, and even let you “fetch” images from your contacts, groups, and tags. Another cool feature ecto has is the “Amazon Helper”. This opens a dialog where you can search the various sections on Amazon, and select a product to insert with your choice of displaying images and text. I didn’t have much of a use for it, but very neat nonetheless.
As far as more “advanced” editing goes, this was also a tough call to make. Between the two, ecto has quite a few more options than MarsEdit, but some of them might not be needed for everyone, and MarsEdit has all the editing options most bloggers would need.
Conclusion
I think it’s safe to say that trying to decide which of these applications was “the best” is quite difficult. They are both top notch in what they do, and I would not hesitate recommending either of them to anyone looking for a blogging solution for the Mac. After using both I think it all comes down to the matter of personal preference, and for my use, I would probably pick MarsEdit over ecto simply because it’s a bit more simple in design.
However, I haven’t made my final decision on which one I am going to use. I still have a few days left in the trial versions, but I’m not sure if I can even make a decision by then. The bottom line is both these applications are great, but newer users might be more taken with ecto, and users who like HTML markups should go with MarsEdit. I really recommend downloading the trial versions for each, and see which one works better for you. I don’t think you will be disappointed with either of them.
MarsEdit 2 ($29.95, 30 day free trial)
ecto 3 beta ($17.95, 21 day free trial)
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