SharePoint provides an out of the box (OOTB) blog site template to create blogs, but the blogging site and capabilities that come out of the box with SharePoint don’t include an easy to use blog client. You can create a new blog post entry by using SharePoint UI; however, the problem with SharePoint UI is that it doesn’t provide a rich editor to create dynamic posts.
Figure 1: SharePoint OOTB New Post UI
Fortunately, there is a free blog client available from Microsoft that works very well with SharePoint. Yes, I am talking about Microsoft Live Writer. Surprisingly, on the Windows Live Writer site, everything from Twitter to Flickr is mentioned, but what’s not mentioned is SharePoint. The good news is that Windows Live Writer can be used with SharePoint and it provides the usability experience that OOTB SharePoint can’t just beat.
Figure 2: Windows Live Writer SharePoint blog option
You can even embed YouTube Videos in your blog by just copying and pasting a video URL from YouTube in Windows Live Writer. (See example below).
Figure 3: Windows Live Writer Insert Video window
Of course, you can view the source and see HTML markup of your post.
Figure 4: Source View
If you have not used Windows Live Writer with SharePoint yet, give it a shot. Trust me, it will get you hooked.
