With MacJournal 4 , Mariner Software importantly revamps the blogging architecture of its unequalled diary - keep lotion and dips a toe into podcasting waters . Unfortunately , bugs — and what seems to be an incomplete effectuation of the podcasting features — mar these welcome sweetening .
MacJournal ’s hallmark is the way it organizes document , grouping them as entries within journals — which can besides be nested within other journals . you may save entries in a variety show of formats , such as Word , RTF ( Rich Text Format ) , PDF , and hypertext markup language — or post them as blog entries .
A journal can domiciliate draft chapters for your novel , photos and notes from your vacation , recipes for every holiday season , or anything else you choose , as long as you are satisfied with canonic , single - tower written matter and basic textbook data formatting .
The principal difference between MacJournal 4 and its harbinger , rendering 3 ( ) , is in the creature it allow for arrange and publishing journals . take a varlet from Apple ’s iWork port , MacJournal 4 introduces an Inspector palette for setting journal and entry property . The Inspector allows each journal to be configure for a specific blogging weapons platform ( include Movable Type , Blogger , LiveJournal , and .Mac ) , via a setup tool that applies the appropriate host options when you typecast in your web log ’s Web name and address . you could also give individual entries customs duty server setting . For instance , pages with photos can be upload to one waiter , while page hold movies can be uploaded to a unlike server .
Inspecting the Inspector
you may also use the Inspector to assign screen background images and colors to document , individual daybook , or launching . New entries can inherit world-wide dimension , or you’re able to depute custom characteristics to them . regrettably , web log - host site do n’t always support background coloration and image in the same manner , so these mise en scene may disappear when you post an entering to your blog .
A more consistent vanishing act occur with entries make with MacJournal 4 ’s young Table tool , which makes it easy to ramp up and even nest table on a page . Tables look great as long as your submission is in MacJournal ’s native file format but , because the program can not give HTML tables , if you save an launching turn back a tabular array as a Web page ( in HTML format ) , or put out it to a web log site , the table vanish . That ’s frustrating in lighting of the significant role tables play as WWW - varlet layout chemical element .
Podcasting tool debuts
MacJournal ’s podcasting puppet , the Recording Bar , works with your Mac ’s built - in microphone and most add - on mics ( but not the one ramp up - in to Apple ’s iSight camera ) . It presents stock record , play , and pause buttons , plus an lead - style audio - tier input index . This no - trumpery recorder ca n’t touch GarageBand 3 ( ) as a podcast recording peter , but its 64Kbps/44.1MHz mono recording capableness are okay for vocalism - intensive audio files . Less fine , however , is MacJournal ’s clumsy approach to publishing podcasts . To print a MacJournal entrance that contains an audio file , you must first export it as a podcast , which localize the sound data file and an XML index finger file ( used for podcast RSS feeds ) in a leaflet on your concentrated disk . Then , you must manually send the leaflet to a server via FTP . Mariner say one - tone podcast publication is plan for a future reading 4 update .
This detail , along with others — break in journal entries are n’t recognized by the pop Blogger site , for exercise — make MacJournal 4 sense bare ; I front forrad to a 4.0.1 hemipteron fix , and at long last to a version 4.x with well podcast publication implementation .
Macworld’s buying advice
Enhanced control over the appearing and behaviour of journal and entries , as well as tools for create table and publication podcasts , make MacJournal 4 a worthy upgrade , but with spotty implementation of these novel feature film — and some major bugs in the 4.0 version — you might desire to hold in out for translation 4.1 .
[ Jim Akin is a technology writer and editor establish in Minneapolis . ]
