I really, really WANT an iPad. The only problem … I haven’t come up with a good enough reason that I NEED an iPad. Believe me, I’m trying.
I’m not the type of person that is an early adopter of technology anymore. I’ve been burned by the overpriced, quickly outdated new gadgets too many times in the past – especially by Apple.
That being said, I want to make an exception for the iPad. I love my iPhone, but let’s face it – the screen is very limiting. The iPad fixes that issue. I have visions of me sitting at Starbucks drinking my caramel macchiato while blog walking my favorite sites, sending a tweet or status update, or perhaps flipping the page of a great book.
Pretty cool, but it doesn’t even come close to a need for me. Luckily, I remembered that WordPress has an app for the iPhone that I couldn’t use because of the screen size. With a much larger screen and keyboard could I use the iPad to blog?
Voila! I had my need (even if it was a little flimsy). Now to check out the facts.
WordPress 2.5 for the Apple iPad
Living up to their slogan, “There’s an App for That,” WordPress has developed an app for the iPad that lets you manage your WordPress blogs (versions 2.9.2 or higher). You can create and edit posts or pages, as well as, moderate comments on your blog.
Creating and Editing a Post
As you can see to the right, in landscape mode the iPad keyboard is almost the size of a normal keyboard if you measure it starting with the Q and ending with the P.
Most people have reported that they adapted very quickly to the iPad keyboard. That’s great news to big guys like me who found the iPhone keyboard much to small to utilize this app.
If you’re still having problems using the iPad keyboard you have the ability to pair the iPad with a Bluetooth wireless keyboard.
There have been some complaints about including images in your blog posts using this app. It is possible to add images; however, you currently have no choice where they display.
As you can see in this post preview screen, all images are added to the end of the post.
Moderating Your Blog Comments
The interface for moderating comments on your WordPress blog looks pretty user friendly. It appears that it would be much easier to use than the interface for creating and editing your posts.
I’m not sure how well it integrates with comment plugins like DISQUS, IntenseDebate, or CommentLuv. I have not been able to get any feedback from bloggers using these.
WordPress 2.5 for Apple’s iPad in Action
If you’ve done some Google searches on this app you’ve probably already seen these exact same photos. I was surprised how little information beyond what I presented above is readily available online. Maybe that’s a red flag?
Like you, I want to see this app in action. I did some more digging online, and I found this video on YouTube. It actually does a pretty good job showing all of the features.
In the end, it looks like a much more usable version of what was already available on the iPhone simply because of the size of the screen and the keyboard; however, I was expecting more features than what it has.
I know that WordPress is working on adding the other functions of the regular version, but I have not heard about any release dates.
Does this Really Make the iPad a NEED?
Okay, I asked the question because I knew you would be asking it (or at least my wife would).
Well, here’s the list I came up with …
- If you travel a lot for your job (would be great on an airplane)
- If you are more of a micro blogger who doesn’t need to place your images
- If you spend a lot of time out of the office
- If you don’t already own a smart phone
Unfortunately, none of these really apply to me so it still falls under the luxury category. Drats! What about you?
Are you using the iPad for WordPress blogging? I would love to hear your experience with it.
Article by Brad Harmon
Brad's Big Feet Marketing helps people on a limited budget enlarge their online footprint using blogging & social media. His other blog, Marketplace Christianity, examines faith's role in how we earn and spend money.
Brad has written 94 awesome articles for us at Bradley A Harmon
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Ah ha! Thanks to your blog, I found out that the ipad does in fact allow an external keyboard. That’s good to know, as I just had my first experience with an ipad, and yes, the keyboard was lacking if you are any sort of a typist.
Mike T´s last blog ..Find an iPad MAC address
Yeah the old “do I really need, or do I just want” question. One thing about the ipad, that I don’t care for is the fact that you have to hit the button to shift to numbers.
Maybe a new software version will fix that issue.
Mike@HDTV Antenna´s last blog ..Find an iPad MAC address