About Jamie on Software

Jamie on Software is the online journal of web developer and writer Jamie Rumbelow.

Jamie likes books, guitars, programming, open source and food. He writes about these things too. This is where he puts the things he writes.

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Thursday
Apr072011

My Blogging Process

As you’ve no doubt noticed, I’ve been blogging a lot more recently. I’ve been making a conscious effort to write much more, not only in an effort to enhance my education but also as an outlet for my creativity and energy. Anyone who knows me will know I’ve got a lot of both.

I’ve been experimenting with different tools to help me blog better. After a few weeks of trialling, I think I’ve hit upon the sweet spot.

My current blogging process looks like this:

  1. Write the post in WriteRoom. WriteRoom is a brilliantly simple text editor that lets me block everything out and get shit done. I’m using Markdown to write the posts; I love being able to unobtrusively format my posts in a fully textual environment.
  2. At this point, I’ll either head straight to my blog and post it on there - I host with Squarespace, and they support Markdown directly - or I will open up TextMate and use the fantastic Markdown bundle to convert my post to HTML in a single button press. It’s Control + Shift + H, if anyone’s interested.
  3. Use MarsEdit to preview and make any final modifications to the post before adding tags and hitting submit. MarsEdit supports all kinds of blogs and protocols, so you’ll probably be able to use it with your blogging platform.

The process above means that I can write peacefully, without distractions and in a decent environment, before being able to tweak and edit in a different tool and publish straight to my blog. And here are the tools that make it happen:

  • WriteRoom. It’s a writer’s paradise.
  • Markdown. Improving the world’s text formatting, one character at a time.
  • TextMate. The best, nay, only code editor anyone should use ever.
  • markdown.tmbundle. Brilliant Markdown support for TextMate.
  • MarsEdit. Brilliant blogging tool with multiple blogging platform support and clever preview generation.
  • Squarespace. A powerful and beautiful web publishing platform.

What does your blogging process look like?

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Reader Comments (1)

My blogging process most resembles guilt, shame, and neglect.

April 7, 2011 | Unregistered CommenterStephen Lewis

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