Mac Blogging Tool: ecto 3 Beta

Posted by Scott Myles on 01/20/08 in Internet, Productivity, Web

Recently MacApper had an open call for new blog contributers which got me thinking, what’s the current state of some of the best Mac blogging tools? In today’s world of online web apps, many rely on the hosted UI of blogging platforms such as Wordpress and Blogger, but on the Mac we are proud of the high quality, low cost, offline desktop tools at our disposal.

In this article I’ll review the latest beta version of ecto, an offline blogging tool that I’ve personally used for nearly 2 years now.

Available from Infinite-Sushi, ecto is distributed for both Windows and Mac OS X, but the latest major version is being initially built for the Mac first. It’s a lightweight, Universal application with an intuitive interface and solid integration with Apple’s iLife suite for photos, musics and movies.

ecto offers seamless integration with the major online blogging tools. When first creating accounts, provide ecto with the access API URL, username and password, and ecto will take care of the rest. A list of current posts will be downloaded automatically and available for review or edit.

ecto Screenshot

Posting new entries is as simple as using a rich text editor. Starting a new post opens up a new entry where one can immediately start typing. Pulling in media content is as simple as selecting the Import Media option and browsing either iLife application folders or local or mounted folders.

Posts can be edited in HTML mode should you want to get your hands dirty with some advanced content entry or styling. Categories, tags and trackback details can be easily modified, and for those that wish to separate out an entry, posts can be divided into summary, body, and extended sections.

Version 3, currently in beta, is fully Leopard compatible and follows Apple’s latest HUI standards similar to iTunes. ecto supports multiple blogging accounts on most major platforms with no discerning formatting differences when submitting posts with it, rather than a web based admin panel. Overall I think it’s a real winner.

A 21-day trial version is available, after which you’ll need to pony up a very reasonable $17.95 for a license. In the past I’ve made contact with the developer when I ran into a few blog connectivity problems and found Adriaan very responsive and willing to review logs and suggest solutions.

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5 Comment(s)

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Jim said on

January 20th, 2008 at 11:43 am

ecto has got to be the most overrated piece of software, outside of Quicksilver.

Let’s get the facts straight. ecto is OK for some blogging platforms. But if you use Wordpress, it breaks with every WP update. For instance, when WP was updated from 1.5 to 2.0, the image uploading feature broke and hasn’t worked well since. Overall, when using ecto with Wordpress used to be decent, but hasn’t been in a long, long time.

Requests for support go unheard, and when the guy does respond, it’s almost always the same, which is “it’s a Wordpress problem.”

If you use Drupal, support is barely there at all.

No matter which platform you use, you can’t use the RichText editor or you will have your paragraph breaks and basic formatting completely hosed in most cases. Even working in HTML mode is unreliable.

ecto used to be awesome. But it has sucked wind for over two years now. I desperately want to like this app, because it offers so much more than other blogging apps. Unfortunately, most of those offerings don’t work worth a darn.

Michael P. Schnabel said on

January 20th, 2008 at 12:16 pm

If ECTO is no good, which do you suggest I use?

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Scott Myles said on

January 20th, 2008 at 1:24 pm

Michael, while I don’t completely agree with Jim’s points, I’d suggest giving ecto a try, but do use version 3 beta, not a prior version.

I encountered similar issues such as those Jim refers to in the past, but since moving to version 3 I’ve had no trouble at all managing posts on either of my personal blogs.

Troy over at The Geeky Artist (see reference links below) appears to have given it a try and is pleased with the results.

sungoddess said on

March 5th, 2008 at 9:29 pm

I used MarsEdit for a while to get a feel for its interface, and I do like some of the features, but navigating the content for the DOZENS of sites I build and maintain using multiple publishing platforms has been crazy.

I love MacJournal, but it doesn’t have enough support for HTML editing which I need.

I bought ecto right off, because it was a happy medium for me between MacJournal and MarsEdit. I love the nested journals, and that is awesome. I use it to maintain content on a number of blogs, and on an increasing number of client sites.

It literally stopped me from pulling my hair out.

While none of the sites I maintain use Wordpress as the engine, it works well with journalspace, joomla and other engines I use.

I think it was worth every penny of the $17.95….

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Paul said on

April 13th, 2008 at 12:34 am

Wow, harsh words for Ecto. I use it all the time, and while it has little issues, it’s worth every penny and far more inspiring to use than any other CMS including the Wordpress dashboard. It might not be for the savviest programmer who really wants full control, but for the rest of us, it’s great. I recommend it all the time. Like the guy above said, if not ECTO, what do you recommend that’s better.

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'ILLEGAL said on

April 14th, 2008 at 10:32 am

None…

None…