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Geek tirade time: here’s one nerdy thing Wordpress authors can use to write their latest expose without logging in to their blogs. Heck, you can even do it straight from your email program!

The good news is, not only can Wordpress do this, Blogger writers can do it too!

Wordpress:

It is a little more complicated for Wordpress users, since you have to do some initial configuration for your blog. In addition to that, you need to have a completely empty and private email address with POP3 access. Chances are, if you have an email address that you check via Outlook, Thunderbird or some other mail application, your email has POP3 access.

Check with your provider to see if he/they can provide you with another account with access. (It may cost you a little bit of money for certain providers) If they can’t, you can search the web for the many free POP3 email providers. I found BlueBottle via a directory, but I can’t vouch for that service since I have not used it before.

When signing up for that new email account, make sure you choose a very obscure alias, like “randomefullofnothing892734234@sgblogging.com” or something like that. This is to make the address hard to guess so that you reduce the chance of having Viagra emails published on your reputable blog. Once you have chosen the address, keep it very secret, and never give it out to anybody else.

Once your POP3 enabled email address is set up, go in to your Wordpress installation, and select “Options” > “Writing”.

Under the header “Post via e-mail”, you can see a few blanks listed:

Enter your POP3 account details into the fields shown, and then select “Update Options”.

Once this is done, Wordpress will start checking that email address every few minutes for any new email that is sent to your email address. Once finds an email, it will take the contents of that email, and paste it right into your blog. All you need to write your new entry, is to enter it into the body of your email, and enter a subject (which will be used for your new post subject), and send it to that email address (randomefullofnothing892734234@sgblogging.com if we follow the example above).

Simple?

Blogger

Blogger is more popular with bloggers. That is why Blogger has a similar feature. The good news is that the entire process is a whole lot simpler.

You just need to pick out a random word/phrase to complete the email address listed above. The completed address will be your secret email address that Blogger will check every few minutes for new email to post to your blog.

From there, send an email from any email address to the completed secret email address. Within a few minutes, your new email is posted onto your blog!

To use it

If your mobile phone contains an email application, you might be able to use it to compose an email. Otherwise, for most newer phones (introduced after 2005), if it has MMS capabilities, you can blog your pictures and sounds by sending the MMS to the secret email address that you have created above. Otherwise, you can also use a Blackberry to send a plain email, or hit the computer terminals at the Internet cafe (we call them LAN shops in Singapore) to send your email from there.

Stuff to look out for

Spammers are always looking out for email address to spam. Be very careful to keep your secret email address private (do not use it to sign up for all kinds of promotions, etc.) to prevent spam emails from being posted onto your blog. You don’t want some organ enlargement advertisements to appear on your blog, do you?

With the ability to write from anywhere (even Blackberries can blog now!) you need to be aware that whatever you write will be published immediately. This is not like in your blogging system where you get to save your rants as draft, and delete them as soon as the anger fit is over. In Singapore, you can get sued senseless (and penniless) if you are not careful. So, think very carefully if you really want to post that angry post.

Otherwise, you are good to go! Enjoy blogging on the go!

[tags]Wordpress, Blogger, tips and tricks[/tags]

Filed under: Tips and Tricks