How To Make A Blog From Your Phone

Whether you are a blogger writing for food or more established at the art of drawing ire from the Associated Press or the FTC, chances are you're dedicated to whatever it is you blog about. As the world slowly succumbs to wireless fidelity, subway systems and municipalities at the same time, blogging is no longer limited to those on laptops at the local coffee shop or at their home office. No, blogging via mobile device is now more accessible and viable than ever.

CMSWire steps beyond the traditional boundaries of non-traditional media platforms and offers a few tools for mobile blogging. From iPhones to Blackberry to Androids and Storms, these mobile platforms can help you chronicle your adventures while on the go or from where ever you please.

We've searched the web and come up with seven mobile blogging tools we think you'll like. If you don't see your favorite, then vote for it in our poll at the end of the article.

Google Blogger
Movable Type
WordPress
TypePad
LiveJournal
SquareSpace
Joomla

Let's take a closer look at each option.

1. Google Blogger

Mobile blogging is much more than using your phone's web browser to access your account. For Blogger it's about sending texts or photos through SMS, MMS or email and having them automatically posting to your blog. Users can create a new mobile blog and merge mobile posts to an existing blog.

Courtesy of blogger.com

Availability: All mobile browsers supported. Currently available to US phone numbers only.
Cost: Google does not charge for this service. Standard message charges apply.
Pros: Texting to your blog is easy, limited to even the most basic phones.
Cons: Be sure to check your phone carrier's texting cost and limit. It may be hard to write extensive entries relying solely on texting.

2. Movable Type

For iPhones and iPod Touch, Movable Type 4 offers a mobile platform, called iMT, from which to blog. Delivered via plugin, it works by installing an alternate template set that is automatically used in place of the primary Movable Type user interface when the application is accessed via an iPhone or iPod Touch.

Availability: Limited to iPhones and iPod Touch
Cost: Free plugin, standard Movable Type prices apply.
Pros: The blog admin is formatted seamlessly for Mobile Safari on the iPhone.
Cons: The plug-in needs to be removed before updating to MovableType 4.2.

3. WordPress

With the WordPress Mobile Edition, a plugin can be installed that shows a mobile interface for visitors who come to your site on a mobile device. Mobile browsers are automatically detected, and the list of mobile browsers can be customized.

For self-hosted installs, users can install a plugin to make the admin section mobile friendly and allow you to enter posts directly to your blog. iPhone & iPod Touch users are supported by version 3.0. However, there is a customized interface for advanced mobile browsers and special styling to make things "finger-sized" for touch browsers.

Availability: iPhones and iPod Touch. Mobile Edition 3.0.5 now supports Palm Pre.
Cost: Free plugin, standard WordPress prices apply.
Pros: Compatible with WP Super Cache and it also has separate themes for advanced browsers, making use of the touch functionality for those phones that have them.
Cons:Mobile themes aren't available for self-hosted WordPress blogs.

You are almost halfway through our list. What do you think so far? Take the time to vote on your favorite Mobile Blogging Tool at end of the list. Can't wait until the end? Cast your vote now .

4. TypePad

TypePad released a mobile application back in 2006. Back then it was targeted at Palm, Windows Mobile or Symbian Series 60 smartphones. Now TypePad mobile can support iPhone and Blackberry, as well. Users can blog via mobile browser at m.typepad.com, through text and SMS or using the "Eye-Fi Wireless Memory Card" which lets bloggers upload photos directly from their digital camera to their blog using the Eye-Fi Card and a wifi network.

Availability: Palm OS 5, Windows Mobile 5 and 6, Nokia Symbian Series, iPhone and iPod Touch, Android
Cost: Free plugin and application, standard TypePad prices apply.
Pros:The stream of recent activity from the people you follow on TypePad is now available on TypePad Mobile web app.
Cons:Problems with categories not appearing on the iPhone app have been reported.

5. LiveJournal

LJ Mobile is a free application for Windows Mobile 5 or 6 (Smartphone Edition and Pocket PC Edition) or Palm OS Smartphone that allows users to post an entry or photo to journals. iPhone and iPod Touch users can download the LiveJournal.app for free.

Paid, Permanent and Plus LiveJournal users can post by email or text message. Users can start by setting an allowed sender address and an authentication method (PIN, PGP or GPG public key). Emailed entries need to be sent in plain text format (not rich text or HTML format), in order to post correctly.

LiveJournal also offers an instant messaging service, called LJ Talk, which automatically integrates into a user's account. With voice posting and text messaging, you can make posts to LiveJournal even when you're on the go.

Availability: Palm OS 5, Windows Mobile 5 and 6, iPhone and iPod Touch
Cost: Free application, standard LiveJounral prices apply. LiveJournal provides a toll-free 888 number for voice-posting in the US. If calling from a mobile phone you may want to check with your carrier to see if standard rates apply.
Pros: Automatically generates a mobile friendly edition of each published blog.
Cons: The new mobile site is in Beta, so you may experience some temporary downtime from time to time. As well, Mobile LiveJournals have non-intuitive URLs, so it's best to find a specific mobile journal using the search engine on the main Live Journal mobile site at m.livejournal.com/read.

6. SquareSpace

Within your journal page configuration, users can set up an email address which can be used to post to SquareSpace remotely. In addition, the Squarespace iPhone application will let users post to blogs, manage blog posts, and see traffic and analytics. Comment management and moderation is not available in this app. But, the app's description text on its iTunes page says it will be available in the 1.1 release.

Availability: iPhone and iPod Touch
Cost: Free application, standard SquareSpace prices apply.
Pros: Reviews site built-in statistics, website preview and general ability allowimg users to easily post on the go.
Cons:The app requires that users already have a SquareSpace account set up.

7. Joomla!

MMS Blog allows you to send photos, video and text directly to your site from your phone or email client. The component collects the content, and the module displays the content.

As well, Mobilebot 1.0 for Joomla 1.5x can detect visitors using mobile devices and change the Joomla! template automatically. It can detect iPhone, Blackberry, Android and Opera Mini separately and load a particular template for each of them.

There are a host of custom mobile adaptations and extensions developed and designed to adapt sites for mobile devices. Search their extensions directory for information.

Availability: All mobile browsers
Cost: Free applications, standard Joomla prices apply.
Pros: Lets you customize so you can create your own custom mobile devices, as well as adjust final HTML code with simple/regular expression PHP replacements.
Cons: Newly developed and released, there are sure to be bugs in the Mobilebot system.

Have Your Say

So you've seen our list. Now it's your turn. Vote for your favorite Mobile Blogging Tool: