Bloggers who like to write on the fly but can’t be assured of constant access to the net would like to generate a database of posts that can be created and edited now and published later. They might want to check out the variety of free desktop blog clients.

These apps have an interface tailored to let you draft and save posts offline and then directly publish them on your site — without needing to fire up a browser.

The advantages are many — managing multiple blogs from a single location; no need to go through the log-in pro­cess at your blog every time you want to make a change to your blog; a local backup of all your posts; ability to save drafts to work on and publish later; and more.

Windows Live Writer

Windows users are lucky: one of the best blog clients come in the form of Windows Live Writer, part of the Windows Live Essentials suite. Get it from Explore.live.com/wind­ows-live-writer — you don’t need to install the complete suite. The Wr­iter has an easy-to-use interface to help you whip up professional-looking posts with little or no technical knowledge. Apart from helping with creating and formatting posts, there are features such as embedding photos and videos, adding tags and categories, one-click enhancements and more. Writer supports popular blogging platforms such as WordPress, Blogger and TypePad. Compose and save your drafts offline, and publish them with the click of a button at your convenience.

ScribeFire

In case you prefer to do things from the browser, consider a browser extension like ScribeFire (Scribefi­re.com), irrespective of your operating system. If you’re wondering how that’s different from simply logging on to your site and blogging, well, there are two important differences. First, ScribeFire will save your drafts offline and publish them when you want, so you can work away in the absence of an internet connection; and second, you could manage multiple blogs from one place.

The ScribeFire extension is available for Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome. You will usually find an ic­on on the toolbar to fire up the exte­nsion with one click. (When you first use the extension, you might get a message to opt in to use the services of its partner Zemanta to get statistics about your readers.) Right-click for a ‘Blog This Page’ option to blog about interesting things you come across as you browse the web. Once again, ScribeFire supports the popular blog platforms and will usually retrieve the server details once you point it to the blog’s URL. The text editor has a tabbed interface and is easy to use to add and edit posts and pages.

And More...

Qumana (Qumana.com) is a desktop blogging app for both Windows and Mac OS. It has all the usual features, but is interesting for including the Q Ads service for monetising your blog.

w.Bloggar (bloggar.com) is an option for Windows users and also comes with a portable option that you can run from a USB stick.

Firefox and SeaMonkey users may want to take a look at Deepest Sender (Deepestsender.mozdev.org) browser extension. This app is yet to see a full version release, so there are some corners to iron out. However, it is a worthy option. It has a nice editor, with WYSIWYG, source and preview options, support for multiple blogs and different platforms, drag-and-drop support, integration with certain media player plug-ins, offline mode and more. This, of course, isn’t a comprehensive list. There are many more free blog clients and users willing to cough up cash will also find a number of excellent commercial options.

Payal Dhar is a freelance technology writer