Wordpress on the iPhone

The ever popular blogging engine Wordpress has an accompanying iPhone application. Now at version 1.1 the application remains free and open source. It is well written, runs smoothly and has some nice touches that inspire confidence during use. It is a shame then that the focus of this application is on a task not suited to the mobile environment.

For everything good that can be said about the iPhone, some things should not be forgotten. It is a mobile device, designed to fit in your pocket. Great for email, the occasional web query, short messages and of course music, videos and podcasts. It is capable of viewing most of the common office document formats but lacks a document editor. And unsurprisingly, this is not something I’ve missed. I don’t believe this is just a coincidence. Writing or editing a document is something that requires focus and concentration, not something you are likely to have while you are out and about.

I find this is the same when writing a blog entry. And whilst I accept that there are many different blogging styles I remain unconvinced that the WordPress for iPhone application successfully targets any of them. In it’s current form, the application focuses on writing new posts, with limited editing functionality for existing posts. It handles both of these well. But I think it would be so much more useful as a comment management tool. You’ve put the time and effort into crafting a well written post and you want the comments to flow. Being able to respond to comments quickly will help the discussion along. I feel the primary focus of the application should be on the interaction with readers rather than the creating of new posts.

That said, what the application does do, it does well. In true WordPress style, setting up my blog was painless and when I went wrong the error messages were clear and helpful. Writing a new post, assigning it to a category and adding tags is a breeze. You even have a choice of saving the draft locally on your iPhone or on the server. The preview function was unable to find my template for draft posts, but for existing posts it worked well, rendering them exactly as they would appear on my blog.

Half way through writing my test post I mindlessly hit the Home button (something I’ve done too often). Most iPhone applications dutifully quit and return to the home screen, loosing all your work in the process. My heart sank. But, on launching WordPress again I was pleasantly surprised to be told that the application had saved and restored my post ready for me to carry on where I left off. A nice touch and something I wish other application developers would take note of.

Editing existing posts was just as painless apart from one small bug. WordPress for iPhone is unable to display or edit text that appears after the <!--more--> tag in a post. So, if you use the <!--more--> tag, you are only able to edit the introductory paragraph of your posts.

The application has the ability to attach photos to your posts but you have no control over how these are posted. They are attached to the end of the post when you upload it. This is another area where the WordPress for iPhone could really deliver. The ability to select multiple images from your Camera Roll, and upload the to be displayed on a grid in a single post would be a nice touch.

In summary, WordPress for iPhone is well written and easy to use. The ability to recover data after accidentally quitting the application is a nice touch and shows the thought that has gone into the development. However, the application is clearly focussed on the creation of new posts, not something I can see myself doing very often on my phone.

Agree, disagree or have any thoughts? Share them in the comments…

WordPress for iPhone:
Version: 1.1
Price: Free
OS: iPhone
URL: http://iphone.wordpress.org/

Gallery:

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