Some Notes About the VisualBlogger 2004 Beta

Just wanted to say a few things based on the initial feedback on VisualBlogger 2004 before I go to sleep. First off, PLEASE read the readme.txt file before starting to use the program. It has very useful information about configuration and known issues. If you get an error as soon as you run it, you haven't read the readme file very thoroughly.

Also, you'll need to completely unzip the archive into it's own folder, and follow the directions in the readme file to configure the file locations in the VisualBlogger.exe.config file. Those locations were hard-coded into the app, and the .config file was the easiest way to pull them out for beta. Otherwise I would have had to build an installer, which would have delayed the beta longer. The other reason you need to unzip the archive is because there are a lot of dependencies. As it is, the app itself spans three assemblies, and there are several other 3rd party components being used. I may ILMerge some of the assemblies together... I have yet to decide on that issue.

Regarding the UI, I know it kinda sucks reading interface elements that are sideways. For that I am sorry. When you see it docked inside VS.NET, you'll see why it is that way. We will more than likely make all those side buttons icon driven with tooltips (like the ones on the code formatting dialog box)  but we don't want to have anyone do icons for that stuff until the other stuff is locked down.

Speaking of UI, I had a couple requests for file menus and what not in the design. There was a specific reason we chose to put all the UI elements on one line, and not have a menu bar. The original puprose of the app was to live inside Visual Studio .NET. It was supposed to be an add-in, and the window would dock at the bottom of the IDE. It would look kind of weird if a tool window had a menu system, so I left it out. The UI was designed to use as little space as possible, and give you maximum editing room while docked, because real-estate inside the IDE is hard to come by.

Oh yeah, and I'm sorry there is no feedback on whether or not your post made it to the server. I had some in there early on, and it got axed when I moved to the provider model. I'll put it back in the next beta, I promise.

One last tip. When configuring your blog... look at the settings to see what kind of format you should use, then click "Delete" and "New Blog" in that order. Type in your settings, then select "Save". Then your settings should be saved accordingly. And yes, I know the dialog box should be modal. It's on the list.

I may put out a new build early next week... I may wait and collect more feedback. Depends on how many more bugs get picked out. Please, keep that feedback coming.