Ranchero Software on Friday released MarsEdit 1.0, which the developer says “makes Weblog writing like writing e-mail.” You use MarsEdit to compose each post within its own window, complete with the ability to spell-check it, save it as a draft, or even set it aside and open a window for a new post. You can save posts as drafts, create custom templates, employ AppleScript to automate your blogging, send pages from your Web browser to MarsEdit with the bookmarklet function and more.
MarsEdit supports the use of trackbacks, Edit-in-BBedit and Edit-in-SubEthaEdit commands and custom HTML tags. It also works with various Weblog systems, including Movable Type, TypePad, Radio UserLand, WordPress, Blosxom and others, as well as NetNewsWire and any other OS X newsreaders that offer a post-to-Weblog feature, which allows you to send news items to MarsEdit for writing comments and posting. The software requires Mac OS X v10.3 and sells for US$24.95 for one user or $19.95 per license for two or more users. You can also buy it as a bundle with the NetNewsWire 2.0 Beta for $39.95. Because MarsEdit replaces the blogging feature found in NetNewsWire 1.x, owners of that application can obtain it for free.