There’s a new version of the MarsEdit blog publishing software out, and Mac users running the current version can try out the public beta for free ahead of its release. MarsEdit 4 is the first major release in more than seven years and brings editor and WordPress-specific enhancements, auto-save and version history, a Safari app extension, and much more.
From the MarsEdit 4 public beta announcement:
The MarsEdit 4 public beta isn’t totally free, but you can use the public beta version for free for now if you already own a license for MarsEdit 3. This only applies to licenses purchased over the web, however, as the Mac App Store version cannot offer upgrades.
The good news? MarsEdit 4 is finally shaping up. I plan to release the update later this year.
[…]
If you decide to install the beta, please join us in the Red Sweater Slack team to discuss the upcoming release. As always, I welcome bug reports and other feedback via email as well.
If you don’t already own a MarsEdit 3 license, you can purchase a license between now and launch for $39.95 to run the public beta then upgrade to MarsEdit 4 without an additional charge.
Here’s MarsEdit 4’s description of top new features and changes:
Editor Enhancements
Visual formatting bar – Select common formatting options with the mouse.
Typewriter Scrolling – View menu option to keep typing vertically centered.
Multimarkdown support – Enhanced functionality when previewing Markdown content.
Faster Preview filtering – Code-based Markdown and Convert Line Breaks filters.
Interactive image sizing – Rich text mode supports direct manipulation of image display size.
Improved “Split Post” UI – Splitter now presented inline in post content.
WordPress-specific enhancements
Faster refresh times.
Featured Image support.
Post Format support.
Per-post Author editing support.
Improved system integration. Now supports standard autosave and version history for locally saved drafts.
Expanded post downloads. WordPress and Blogspot blogs can now be configured to download the entire history of posts instead of a recent subset.
Automated preview templates. Click the “Download Template…” button from the template editor to automatically detect your blog’s theme.
Safari App Extension. Active the “Send to MarsEdit” extension in Safari to easily create new drafts citing the page you are viewing.
Application Sandbox. The app is now sandboxed for increased security.
Visual formatting bar – Select common formatting options with the mouse.
Typewriter Scrolling – View menu option to keep typing vertically centered.
Multimarkdown support – Enhanced functionality when previewing Markdown content.
Faster Preview filtering – Code-based Markdown and Convert Line Breaks filters.
Interactive image sizing – Rich text mode supports direct manipulation of image display size.
Improved “Split Post” UI – Splitter now presented inline in post content.
Faster refresh times.
Featured Image support.
Post Format support.
Per-post Author editing support.
