Cobwebs Of The Mind: Basics of Blogging - Part 15 - Editor Tools - Qumana & Performancing Extension for Firefox

Interrupting the RSS posts in the next Post. However this is also important for Blogging.

If you use Firefox you may want to consider using the Perfomancing Editor extension for dealing with your blogs. Since I am a Firefox avid user, and use IE only when demands are such that I MUST use IE, the Performancing editor extension is impressive. It lacks the organizational facilities of Qumana, which I am quickly becoming an avid fan of, but it certainly is a more robust editor (at this point in time.)

Qumana allows you to stay organized in your posts. It has a wonderful "refresh posts" button, so even though I am publishing this post in the Perfomancing extension, I will be able to refresh posts for Cobwebs Of The Mind in Qumana and see it there with all source code as well. Qumana keeps me ordered and on time. However, it lacks, as of this posting, certain basic functions in its editor, which I know they are getting around to. You cannot yet color text without going into the source code. You cannot yet preview your post either. Both these capabilities including font size are offered in Perfomancing. I especially love the preview feature, something I have found sorely lacking in Qumana 3.0 beta.

The image screen in Qumana is a pleasure to deal with and now with Beta 3.0 v.4 is a dream come true with its options. However, it does not easily allow for uploads, whereas in Performancing you can use their ftp upload. (I happen to upload all pics etc. using an external FTP program and then grab them straight with the URL, but that is how I like working.) Though in the end Performancing does NOT offer anywhere near all the abilities that Qumana offers, such as alt text, title text, alignment etc.

A suggestion for both programs. What is sorely lacking as well, is an option in the link command. Link commands all work pretty much the same, however, if I want to link to a site and make sure it opens in a separate window, I must go into the code usually, and place a target ="_blank" in the href. It would be a pleasure if every time I added a link I would have the option of picking between the possibilities much like the options in the image link screen.

Performancing does NOT have any spell check routine. Qumana does, though in Qumana there is no option to "add" to a dictionary (which should be on your hard disk) and no option to "ignore all". Thus if I am writing a post and use a word that is not in their dictionary, but I want to use anyway, Qumana will mark each entry of this word as misspelled. Additionally since I cannot create my own dictionary add-on, it will always mark this word wrong, no matter what post I am in. However, a spell check is better than no spell check. That is for sure!

Be aware that since there is no possibility in Performancing to "synchronize" you have to be able to keep track of your posts and keep track of their changes. Also be aware that it can only be used in Firefox and not in IE. So if you are an IE user you are out of luck. Perfomancing has some interesting tools, such as the ability to see your blogs standing in Technorati, and add both Technorati and del.icio.us tags at the same time. Qumana allows for Technorati in the same manner.

If you copy a URL for instance, and then want to link in Qumana it will automatically show up in the link box without the need to paste it. In Performancing this does not happen. You must open the link option and paste the URL automatically.
<b> <p></p>
I happen to like the way Performancing handles the line breaks and their tags (listed right above) much more than the way Qumana does. In Performancing they are simpler. I often find that in Qumana I am getting way too many extra lines when I publish, especially in Firefox. (This is something Qumana should work on.)

Qumana is stand alone and is organized. Performancing is great to blog immediately while in Firefox. In the future I will combine both of them in order to allow for a more robust method of blogging.

Performancing Extension for Firefox can be downloaded at Mozilla Extensions or at their web site: Performancing (which also contains some other free statistical aspects if you sign up!)

Qumana can be found at Qumana's Web Site

Both get 3 stars, bordering on a fourth, if they continue to progress. Blogging is serious business these days and these tools make it all so much easier. All in all both these tools are a plus for your arsenal. Both of them serve a purpose and serve it well. Both can and should be used. They can be made better, but both are FREE products, and certainly outstanding in what they deliver.