First, the app is rated at 2.5 stars. Things must have improved since I first got it. Second, the app is rated 12+. Google warns of mild/infrequent fantasty violence. I see the confusion. If an app is so poor that it makes you want to hurt small animals then it's merely a bad app. That's not fantasy violence.
The pathology of Blogger on iOS is clear from their description: "Download the latest release of the official Blogger app, and start blogging on the go. ...". 'On the go' used to mean something like 'in transit'. Somewhere after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 the meaning of 'on the go' split. It could mean either 'when I shouldn't be' -- as when also operating machinery or it could mean 'while subject to demeaning circumstances' -- as when dehydrated and shoeless at a TSA checkpoint.
These branches are converging again towards a simpler meaning -- 'poorly'.
I want to write on the stay and I want to do it in a comfortable chair with my tablet. The chair has been waiting for this application for more than a thousand years. The tablet is ready. The software is not.
Though I complain about blogger often, I generally enjoy the platform and I'm grateful for it. The web page is good enough for me to routinely bang out posts of a thousand words. I've used the page on the go (in both the 'poorly' and 'when I shouldn't be' senses) from my iPhone. It's just terrible on the iPad. I can't scroll long text in the editor. I can't upload a photo from my iPad. I can't make it stop tracking my own page views. I have a hundred other small problems with it.
I thought John Gruber was wrong earlier this month about native apps being better than web apps and I used a web page to say so. I'm using the updated native Blogger app to write this. It's certainly different. I can scroll. I can paste a picture. I can't add a hyperlink. The type is stunningly attractive on a Retina device.
This is basically my experience with most native apps and web apps on the iPad. The web apps are strangely broken for a device that has sold more than a hundred million copies worldwide (sorry, no hyperlink for you!). The native apps are from another planet, feature a completely different incomplete feature set, and appear to be written by a completely different team.
For Blogger, neither approach works for them on the iPad. As far as I can tell, neither app is hobbled by the technical or policy limitations of the platform. They just suck because they are software.
Go google 'othermill' and find the Kickstarter project (I left my hyperlinks in my other trousers). That looks like a nice piece of hardware. Kickstarter is full of thoughtful looking pieces of hardware. Here's a Kickstarter project that I predict will run and fund within the year:
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Wribbon:
We've been slaving away in our industrial loft for three years to develop a working prototype of the finest Artisinal typewriter ever. Trust us. Everything works. You can even use it in your kitchen. If successful, this Kickstarter campaign will allow us to put together a large order for the necessary cast iron bases and sheet metal stampings.
Support us at the $50 level and receive a signed typewriter ribbon used (by us) to hand type a copy of 'The Great Gatsby'. (sold out).
Support us at the $100 level and we'll type your manifesto (up to 1000 words) on a pre-production Wribbon. (6 of 20).
Support us at the $500 level and be the first in line to get a complete Wribbon kit. (22 of 100).
Support us at the $1200 level and get an assembled, tested, and hand enameled Wribbon together with a piece of furnace coke. (4 of 75).
Support us at the $8000 level and get an complete Wribbon with untraceable hammers and ten sheets of waterproof Adventure Paper generously sized to fit around the included clay brick. (sold out).
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I'll try to get in at the $500 level. $1200 is just too much for a typewriter.
Update: Wribbon is already taken by a photographer. I suggest Typst
Update: Wribbon is already taken by a photographer. I suggest Typst
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