Windows Live Writer is a great application for creating blog posts on your computer and then uploading it to your web site. I find this editor works much faster than a web-based one and gives you greater control over content formatting and working with images.
It’s possible to use Windows Live Writer with Joomla if you install an XML-RPC plugin for it. Then it will be possible to compose articles on your PC before uploading it to your site. The following tutorial shows how to do this. Keep in mind that Windows Live Writer was designed to work with blogs, so where the word blog is mention, its referring to your Joomla site.
Install the Plugin
- Download the MovableType XML-RPC Plugin.
- Install the plugin in your web site:
a) Open Extensions in administration panel and select Install/Uninstall.
b) Browse to the plugin and press the “Upload File and Install†button.
c) You’ll get a confirmation message that the plugin was installed. - Open the Extensions menu and select Plugin Manager.
- Browse to the XML-RPC – MovableType API plugin and set it to enabled.
- Open the Site menu and select Global Configuration.
- Click on the System tab and enable web services.
Add a Site to Windows Live Writer
- Open the Tools menu and select Accounts.
- Press the Add button.
- Select Other blog service.
- Press the Next button.
- Enter the URL of your web site and the login information for the administrator.
- Press the Next button
- Select Movable Type API for the type of blog being used. The Remote Posting URL is your web site followed by /xmlrpc/index.php, i.e. http://www.website.com/xmlrpc/index.php.
- Press the Next button.
- Windows Live Writer can’t use Joomla themes, so press the No button.
- Choose a name to use for your web site.
- Press the Finish button.
- Press the OK button to return to editing in Windows Live Writer.
Windows Live Writer can now post to a Joomla site. There is no option to post to the front page in Joomla. You will still have to login and edit this information.
