So far I have only been able to load this blog into the profile list without the program crashing. My efforts to load my WordPress blog have failed and all I have received are "unspecified errors". It may be that I have not configured the blog correctly. I have another 12 days to play around with it and see if I can get it right. I did notice that the Windows version received mixed reviews.
NetworkWorldFusion took a look at an earlier version of ecto and weren’t impressed at all.
Our disappointment came from the fact that the software is being
charged for despite being unfinished. We know it is unfinished because
it has really crappy error handling. For example, should you omit the http://
part of the the URL when you specify where Ecto can access the API of
the blog you’re using, the program doesn’t tell you that the method
name is missing, try to fix it up, or do anything sensible.Oh no, it first says "There was an error generating the XML
document" then generates an unhandled exception that complains "Invalid
URI: The format of the URI could not be determined." At other times
Ecto proclaims "Object reference not set to an instance of an object."
Gad.
On the other hand, NevOn rated the Windows version quite highly despite initial hassles.
Overall, I think ecto is a winner if you want an offline blog editing
tool that enables you to dive into the more technical elements of blog
publishing and gives you total control over every element of your
posting. A new version is in the works – in a post on the ecto blog
dated 16 September, developer Alex Hung says: "I am currently working
on the next major update with improved user interface."
I have also considered trying BlogJet out. Does anyone have any thoughts about this product? The bottom line for me, though, is that I am going to have to spend some more time with ecto before declaring it a waste of time.
Update:
Alex, the ecto’s developer, contacted me and advised me as follows:
I am currently investigating an issue that exits wth ecto 1.6 and WP 1.5 running on Apache web server. Seems that if WP uses IIS there is no issue.
Thanks Alex!
RSS – Posts
What do you think?