For download

Jun 3, 2008 09:54 GMT  ·  By

A new Community Technology Preview of Windows Live Writer and a fresh release of the Windows Live Writer Software Development Kit are available for download. Both products have been updated, according to Microsoft and, in this context, their release in tandem is by no means coincidental. As far as the Windows Live Writer is concerned, end users should take note that the CTP build is aimed more at developers, since it failed to qualify for a Beta version.

"This release is largely about updates to the Writer SDK, which now includes hooks for pre- and post-publish events. These updates are still experimental and these APIs are not stable--we may make changes based on your feedback that break plug-ins that use these new methods. However, we're really excited about the new set of scenarios that have been unlocked and look forward to hearing feedback from all of you Writer plug-in developers out there," revealed a member of the Windows Live Writer Team.

Still, the new CTP of Windows Live Writer does manage to deliver a collection of features and enhancements spanning across various areas of the software including video and image publishing, editing and the user interface. The CTP Build will permit users to enjoy a revamped toolbar, tabbed view switching and advanced category control. Windows Live Writer now counts words, and permits videos to be uploaded to Soapbox, also delivering basic photo editing capabilities such as cropping and tilting.

The Windows Live Writer SDK has also evolved, with Microsoft emphasizing the plugin types which have been added in the new release. Publish notification hooks and header/footer content sources are the new items featured in the SDK, addressed directly at plugin developers.

"Publish notification hook plugins allow you to execute code before and after Writer posts content to a weblog. They can examine the contents of the post and have the option to cancel the publish operation. Header/footer source plugins insert headers or footers during publishing. Headers and footers are not directly editable by Writer users and do not appear in Writer's editing views, but are visible in the Preview view (and of course, on the published blog post)," the Windows Live Writer Team added.

Windows Live Writer 2008 Technical Preview is available for download here. The Windows Live Writer SDK can be downloaded from here.