So what is it like to publish a post using your mobile device? Months ago, WordPress had released their mobile application on the Android market. This greatly helped busy and on-the-go webmasters manage their blog sites and interact with their online communities. In this article, we will take you through the usability and features of the “WordPress for Android” mobile application.
1. Ergonomics
For smartphones with small screens, using this app to create long posts may not be that good of an idea. If you don’t want your eyes to squint much and your fingers to be retyping and correcting letters, try using a device with a larger screen instead or a tablet. Better yet, get a detachable keyboard and plug it into your device to enhance personal ergonomics.
2. Aesthetics of the UI
The new version of WordPress for Android features a very sleek and elegant user interface for mobile blogging. Formatting options are well positioned, as well as the methods to add images and videos quickly. What’s obviously improved from the previous version is the movement of the delete post button to a less prominent spot to prevent accidental taps.
3. Usability
Whenever and wherever, you can create pages, compose drafts of blog posts, edit and publish them locally and remotely as many times as you wish per day. You can even schedule posts to be published on a later date! What’s also worthy to note is that it can automatically save posts every 60 seconds. You can check, moderate and edit comments while on the go.
Although not much of a concern, the only drawback for now is that editing is done through XML-RPC which might expose posts and accounts to security risks.
4. Enhancements
Aside from the usual usability of managing content and comments, WordPress for Android also enables users to view statistics of page visits within the app and be informed whenever a comment has been posted through its built-in optional push notifications. In the new version 2.0, the app can support self-hosted WordPress (3.0 and higher) and the regular WordPress.com blogs. Blogging experience is also enhanced with quick actions bar for faster navigation, text link titles, image alignment and captions.
5. Navigation
Starting from the welcome screen, you will feel that navigation is very user-friendly. You can see almost everything when you enter the dashboard—from adding of post, page, photo or quick photo, viewing of posts, pages, comments and stats, editing your settings to reading other blogs you’re subscribed to through the WordPress reader.
6. Features
Here are the useful features presented by the app:
New Post: You add new content to your blog, edit the post title, tags and categories, add a location, and edit the aforementioned publish date for the post.
Formatting options: You can edit content post (Bold, Italic, Underline, and Strikethrough) and add links, quotes, and tags (very important for SEO).
Pages: You can add information about yourself to be pinned at the top of your profile page. This includes contact details, FAQ’s and the like.
Quick Photo and Video: You add photos and videos by taking pictures or video shots from the camera application and taking them directly to the post. You can also change the photo width with the option to keep the same aspect ratio.
Comments: You can approve, create, edit, view, delete and mark comments as spam. You can also check multiple comments and perform one same action at the same time.
Stats: You can view blog views’ statistics for the current month, past month, week, quarter, year, or all the way back from the day you launched your blog.
7. Price
This is the best part. You can try and install it—absolutely free (because it’s an open-source app), available through the Google Play Store! You have all to gain and nothing to lose.
Recently, Android has been gaining competitive momentum in developing more apps that make life easier for its users. Such an example is the WordPress mobile application for android smart phones. This one is a must for bloggers who runs WordPress as their website blogging engine. With satisfactory overall review, WordPress for Android truly takes the convenience of mobile blogging one step up.
Author -Alexis Thompson is an alumna from Martin College Australia, a former Mountain Backpacker and a 26 year old mother of 2 daughters, Sophie and Rhian. She is into almost all types of Music especially The Fray and Hillsong. She also has a passion in Singing and Scrap Booking. Follow her escapades on her Twitter.
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