2010 14/06

App Reviews: WordPress for the iPad

By Erica
View Comments com
Filed in: Guest Post, Reviews, Software, Wordpress

This Article was written by Matthew Paulson of iPad Weekly. For more great iPad application reviews, visit iPad Weekly’s app reviews and app charts.

The folks over at WordPress have followed up on their iPhone and iPod Touch with a version of WordPress for the iPad, which allows users to write posts, edit pages and moderate comments.

From a technical perspective, WordPress for the iPad makes use of the XML-RPC publishing interface. If you want to be able to manage your blog using the app, you will need to go to “Settings”, then “Writing” and enable XML-RPC under “Remote Publishing. Once your blog’s settings are in order, open up the WordPress app and click the plus button to add a new blog. You’ll be asked for the blog’s URL as well as your admin username and password. After entering that data, you are ready to begin managing your blog via your iPad.

Moderating comments on the WordPress iPad application works reasonably well. You can see a list of recent comments on your site and choose to approve a comment, delete a comment, or mark a comment as spam.

Writing content on the WordPress iPad application is a bit more time consuming than using a laptop or desktop. This is primarily because of the virtual keyboard, which is generally a slower typing experience. You have the ability to upload photos from your iPad into post, add a password and choose to publish your post on a specific date. Post formatting is a bit lacking. As far as we can tell, there’s no way to add hyperlinks, headings, or bolded or underlined text, making it difficult to do anything more than writing a short post.

I could probably write a blog post using the virtual keyboard, or get around it using the iPad Keyboard dock, but the lack of formatting capabilities when writing content is a deal breaker.

WordPress for the iPad is available on the app store for $0.99

Matthew Paulson is the managing editor for iPad Weekly. Matthew is responsible for providing overall editorial direction for iPad Weekly and managing the website’s advertising relationships. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science and a M.S. in Information Systems from Dakota State University. Matthew is from Sioux Falls, SD and has experience in web development, software engineering, personal finance and journalism.

Follow @iPadWeekly on Twitter and Facebook.

http://www.sectionaltitlesa.co.za Mike

Erica, good post. I am looking for a wordpress plugin for our blog for iphones. Any recommendations?
http://ericasays.com EricaMueller

I don't have or use an iPhone, but I'm sure Matthew would know! Have you checked his site for an app review? While he specializes in iPad stuff I'm sure he's an iPhone user as well!
http://davidrisley.com David Risley

Oooh… did they re-do it recently? When I tried WP on the Ipad 2-3 weeks ago, my reaction was “Meh.”. It was a freebie app. I'll pay 99 cents in a heartbeat if it actually works.
http://www.blog.web6.org Mrs_Moody

i am disappointed with ipad, since i can't really use it optimally, plus my neck hurts when i use it too much lol
http://ericasays.com EricaMueller

David, I don't have the coveted iPad, or even an iPhone, which is why this is a guest post. haha I have to bring in people who actually know what they're talking about. From Matthew's post it sounds like the app works, but that it's not grand and leaves a lot to be desired.
http://ericasays.com EricaMueller

I'm hearing a lot of people who are slightly disappointed. I get it, very cool device, but it doesn't sound like it's GREAT at anything, just mediocre at everything. Perhaps future versions will be more focused on certain aspects that will make it worth the buy.
Mikenuvo

Nice review! Check mine at the below link..

Gear Lust (part one) iPad –first impressions

http://mousejockey.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/hel...

Like so many other Apple users I’m enamored with each deliciously-designed product that they release. But I understand what they are doing to us – they are changing the way we think, compute, consume and buy. As a futurist and early-adopter of most technology I’m ok with these changes. But Apple seems to be single-handedly launching us into new markets long before the public knows what to do with them. On one hand it’s the entrepreneur’s dream to have a new wild-west to conquer. But as consumers we are easily tricked into putting money back into Apple, AT&T and so many other companies’ products to feel like we are on the cutting edge of technology in this brave new age of computing. My first impressions of the iPad are exactly these thoughts. It’s not a matter of is it cool (it totally is) or do I want one (couldn’t wait.) It does everything I wanted and more. It’s got a few limitations I find frustrating. But once I got my hands on it I was drinking Apple’s kool aid once again and didn’t put it down for about 14 hours. Below is a brief review of the product and some initial impressions of the philosophy behind the technology, some questions about productivity and some excitement about the possibilities.