AvantBlog is a very simple interface which will allow you to post to a blog from your Palm or WinCE device via AvantGo, which is the default browser at least on Palm devices.

Features

• Now supports Titles!
• Works in most handheld browsers (including AvantGo and Pocket IE)
• Uses my own Atom API implementation
• Uses sessions to manage authentication; log in once and you are authenticated each time until you log out!
• Post to any blog* you have access to, all presented in a simple select box
• Post as many times as you like, then synch and upload them all
• Edit posts before you synch them if you make a mistake

*AvantBlog currently only works with standard Blogger.com accounts/blogs. Future versions have planned support for other blogging tools/systems.

How It Works

AvantBlog works directly from the Dented Reality server, communicating with the Blogger.com server to authenticate you (log you in) and then get a list of your available blogs. When you post, it checks to make sure you are logged in properly, then posts what you have written to the blog you want it on. Check out this overview diagram to see what I mean.

How Do I Get It?

Easy! Just pick from one of these methods;

If You Are Using AvantGo…

All you need to do is click on either the “Install AvantGo Channel” or the AvantGo logo in the panel on the right, and you will start the install process. You shouldn’t need to modify any of the default settings on the Custom Channel, but you can if you like (Click here for more details about customising AvantBlog for auto-login if you are having problems with it logging out).

If You Are Using A Different Browser…

Then basically, you just need to point it towards http://avantblog.beaulebens.com/ and load up the page, then log in and start blogging!

Optionally…

If you are finding that your screen has more room available and you’d like to make the main post editing field bigger, you can add ‘?w=XX&h=YY’ to the end of the URL for AvantBlog (without the quotes) and specify a new width (w) and height (h) for the editing area. As a guideline, a Palm Vx uses ?w=17&h=6 while an HP iPAQ H5550 uses ?w=20&h=11 to get the biggest area possible.

Requirements

• Handheld device (like a Palm or Handheld PC) running AvantGo or a similar web channel/browser program
• About 3K on your handheld device to store the channel
• An Internet connection! (either directly from the handheld, or via the computer you synch with)
• A web log managed via Blogger.com (can be hosted remotely via FTP or on blog*spot)

Problems?

If you are having any trouble getting AvantBlog set up or working, or would like to let me know about an exotic platform that you have it working on 🙂 please contact me.