Blogging unleashed with ScribeFire

Do you find it is annoying and a waste of time that editing your blog with online WYSIWYG editors? If your answer is Yes, then here is the solution. It is called ScribeFire.

Some of the these online editors (TinyMCE, for example) do not have the autosave feature. And also, in online editors such as Blogger, there is a number of problems corresponding the autosave feature. So, ScribeFire is a good solution for those problems.

ScribeFire exclusively works with Mozilla Firefox and is available as an add-on. You can install ScribeFire from right here. The good news is that you can use ScribeFire to post your blog entries to UCSC LODGE. Not only UCSC LODGE, but also you can use it to post your blog entries to various kinds of blogs such as Blogger, Wordpress and etcetera.

This blog entry is mainly targeted at describing how to configure ScribeFire to work with UCSC LODGE. So, here is how to do it.

1. First, you need to install ScribeFire and restart Firefox.
2. After Firefox has launched, click on the ScribeFire icon on the bottom right corner of the screen (it looks like a notepad).
3. ScribeFire UI will pop up, but it will take room from the active tab. Personally, I don't like this. I'll explain how to avoid this later. At the first launch, it will pop up the ScribeFire Account Wizard, which helps you to integrate your UCSC LODGE account into ScribeFire. Once you do this setup, you are ready to go with ScribeFire.
4. Provide the following details to the account setup wizard.

• Your blog URL: http://www.ucsclodge.lk/blogs/<your ucsc lodge username>
• It will try to autodetect your blog settings. When it notifies you that it has failed retrieving settings, click Configure Manually button.
• In the next step, under blog system type, choose Drupal. Then specify http://www.ucsclodge.lk/xmlrpc.php as the API URL. You do not need to bother about Advanced Settings.
• In the next step, enter your UCSC LODGE username and password. It will attempt to log into your UCSC LODGE account. If it fails, please go back and re-enter your correct username and password.
• Finally it will ask to confirm your blog to be added. That's all. You are ready to go!

The steps are also given in the slideshow below.

OK, now to configure ScribeFire.
On the left side you will see five icons. First one is a notebook, second one is a $ and so on.
Click  on the fourth icon which looks like a gear wheel. It is the ScribeFire Settings icon.
There you will see four tabs. On the general tab under "By default, open scribefire in...", select the New Tab option. So it will open in a new tab since next launch, rather than taking space from the active tab. This has to be set according to your personal preference. You don't need to bother about other settings.

The other good news is that you can make $$ with ScribeFire. Just hit the $ icon mentioned above. But DO NOT use UCSC LODGE to make money! To make money you may set up an additional account preferrablly with Blogger or Wordpress.

Now, start writing your blog entry!

~ Shaakunthala ~ ශාකුන්තල ~