NEWSFLASH! I've pretty much canned this client, but don't fret! Josh Puetz has a slimmer, sexier AvantGo channel for you to try! Check his out at:
http://www.users.qwest.net/~jpuetz/avantgoblogger.html
Thanks, Josh!
So, imagine: you're at the deli. You order a salami and turkey on a roll. The turkey? Perfectly moist. The salami? Wonderfully spicy. The roll? My gosh, it tastes just like a tender, sweet, soft pretzel! You have to blog this fine dining moment! But you're at a deli! What do you do? What do you do?
Well, now you can whip out your handheld and blog away, my friend. The AvantGo Client for Blogger lets you do a handful of the same operations available to you on Blogger.com-- create, view, post, and publish.
This client is built on the backs of giants. Specifically, those giants are named Pyra and AvantGo.
Pyra produces Blogger. You will need to have an existing account at
Blogger.com to use this client. You can sign up at:
AvantGo is an online/offline web browser for handhelds. Provide it a URL, and it will replicate the site on your handheld. There are clients available for both PalmOS and WinCE.
https://avantgo.com/setup/index.html
Once you have set up accounts with Blogger and AvantGo and installed the AvantGo client, you can add the AvantGo Client for Blogger to your list of channels with the URL:
I forgot to mention you'll also need a PalmOS or WinCE device. You'll also need a PalmOS or WinCE device.
There's only so much you can cram on to such a small screen, but the client can do most of the Blogger.com essentials:
Lots. This client relies heavily on the capabilities of AvantGo. There are some inherent limitations that become readily obvious with regular use:
Other limitations are basically a lack of functionality. I hope to add things like editing earlier posts, handling teams, etc. Suggestions are always welcome!
The AvantGo Client for Blogger works as a proxy. That means you are not connecting directly to Blogger.com when you login, post, or whathaveyou. You are connecting to a script on my website which then forwards your request to blogger. Because of this, you'll have to trust me. I am not recording passwords, authentication tokens, post content, or anything of that nature.
I am recording the following information: a time stamp, the PyraID, the nature of the request (post, view, publish, etc.), and any errors. These are for the purposes of testing only, so I can determine what's being used and what's gone wrong. The first couple people to test it didn't seem to have a problem with logging this kind of info, but let me know immediately if you think this is an issue. I'm paranoid about this kind of thing myself, so.
The ultimate goal is to show that the client is being used enough to justify its implementation on Blogger.com proper so that you won't have to go through an intermediary such as myself. The more feedback I get, the faster that'll happen, so drop me a line if you find the client useful.
The design goal was to be as similar to Blogger as possible within the contraints of AvantGo and the typical handheld form factor. Most interface elements should be very familiar to the average Blogger.com user. The major exception to this rule is the "publish" function which is mentioned in the Limitations section of this document, and is hopefully only temporary.
That said, it could certainly be improved upon. Please do contact me with any suggestions for improvement.
Everybody loves screenshots! These should be fairly self explanatory, so I won't belabor the obvious.
THIS PROJECT HAS NO AFFILIATION WHATSOEVER WITH AVANTGO.COM, PYRA.COM, OR BLOGGER.COM.
This is just something I came up with on a lazy afternoon. Please do not ask Pyra or AvantGo about this project; they'll have no idea what you're talking about. This is ALPHA grade software, so if something breaks, I'm very very sorry.
Most graphics used in the client screens were stolen directly from the Blogger website.
I am always open to suggestions. If you see it on Blogger.com and not on the handheld, and you think you could get some use out of it, email me.
Thu Aug 31 10:36:13 MDT 2000
More than a lot. Some of the primary stuff isn't completed yet, such
as the create-a-blog component and the settings page. I'll be rolling
those in as time goes on. Also, I'll be doing a significant rewrite
when Pyra releases the XML API for Blogger. Of course, this will all
end up a pointless exercise if Pyra asks me to implement it on their
website, but hey. The journey not the destination, yadda yadda yadda.
Fri Sep 1 08:01:08 MDT 2000
I've got to learn how to prioritize. I added "Edit Profile" yesterday
instead of "Edit Template". I swear that's next. JISH pointed out that
OmniSky users don't necessarily use AvantGo and might be interested in
an OmniSky/Proxiweb version instead, which should be fairly
straightforward for me to do, so that's coming (parenthetically
(redundantly), a live connection would allow me to do real 'post &
publish' requests, unlike the AvantGo channel, so yay).
Mon Sep 11 12:03:31 MDT 2000
Still waiting on the Blogger API, so no new development. A couple
folks have reported a bug: all of the text in the 'post' form seems to
spontaneously disappear on random occasions. Unfortunately, it's a bug
in the AvantGo client. I've entered a bug report, so here's hoping
they have a fix.
Thu Sep 14 10:48:17 MDT 2000
Decided not to wait for the API and added "Sign out" and "Edit
template". Note that "Edit template" works like Blogger.com-- it
doesn't apply the template to your blog immediately. You'll need to
edit your template on the handheld, sync, publish, and sync again. Oh,
and this totally kills
me. Yay, Jason!
Obviously, a big thanks to AvantGo for such great free software and another big thanks to Pyra and their wonderful Blogger service. Great stuff. Good Karma. Thanks to Nathan Torkington, who is unwittingly hosting the script that makes this channel work. A shout out to Meg Hourihan and Sylvia Clark who put up with two solid days of my rambling on about this silly thing, and to Jason Pettus who was one of the first to actually try it out. You're good people. Don't go changing.
Eamon Daly, eamon@fastweb.com