The next release of ScribeFire will have a new feature called Quickblogging. Quickblogging will allow you to edit your blog posts without ever opening the ScribeFire editor. Here's how it works:

Once you've added your blog to ScribeFire, any time you view your blog in the browser, the Quickblogging toolbar will appear:

The first button gives you quick access to the ScribeFire editor, and the remaining buttons allow you to add elements to your posts: photographs from Flickr, YouTube videos, links, quotes, etc. Click on any of them, and you'll be walked through the rest of the process. For example, take a look at adding a picture from Flickr to an existing blog post:

(Full documentation of the Quickblogging features is being assembled here.)

If you're interested in trying out this new feature before its general release, you can install this preview release. Feedback is welcome and encouraged.

Update: Latest preview build is here.

I've posted the very latest pre-release build of ScribeFire at the Google Code project. Lots of bugs have been fixed in this build, including big ones related to manual configuration in the account wizard, the breaking of toolbar customization, and opening ScribeFire in its own tab. You can see the full list of recent changes to ScribeFire at the project's code commit log.

If you've installed any of the other pre-releases, you should upgrade to this one.

Update: The latest preview build is here.

There's a new preview release posted at the ScribeFire Google Code project for anyone interested in testing the next generation of ScribeFire.

Notable changes since the last preview was posted:

• Lots of bug fixes for tabbed editing
• Added option to have custom ping URLs
• Fixed behavior of <pre> tag
• Fixed YouTube embedding in Blogger
• Added "Add video from YouTube" button

Check it out and leave any feedback as comments on this post or as a new issue here. I believe that this next release will be one of ScribeFire's best, simply because of the amount of feedback you've been sending in.

Update: The latest preview build is here.

A lot of changes have been made in order to add tabbed editing to ScribeFire, so we're releasing a preview release before a general release to let early adopters try it out and submit feedback before we unleash it on the general ScribeFire population.

You can download/install this version (1.4.9pre) at the ScribeFire Google Code project. While using it, submit your feedback as comments on this post or as a new issue.

Here's a screenshot of the new layout:

Tabbed editing and smaller tabs for accessing the non-editor panes.

Also, timestamp editing was enabled for users of all browsers, not just Firefox 3:

ScribeFire users: how does this screenshot make you feel?

Note: This is just a preview. Tabbed editing has not yet been released.

Update: The latest preview build is here.

For anyone who downloaded version 1.4.8 and was unhappy with how often the "You haven't saved this post..." prompt popped up: you should install this nightly build. It is identical to ScribeFire 1.4.8 except for some improvements in when the dialog appears to prompt you to save your progress.

Please continue to leave feedback, either in a comment on this post or at the ScribeFire Google Code project.

The next version of ScribeFire will add support for uploading images to Blogger. If you use Blogger and would like to help test this feature before it is fully released, send an e-mail to cfinke@gmail.com with the subject 'Pre-test ScribeFire'.

Update: No more need for pre-testers; this feature is included in the latest ScribeFire release.

Just an FYI that the next release of ScribeFire (probably 1.4.2, coming in the next week or so) will be compatible with the Firefox 3 alpha builds, also known as Gran Paradiso.

We're working on getting a new release out there to fix some long-standing bugs and clean up the UI a little bit. We thank all of you for your patience and feedback.

Here's a look at some changes we're looking at making, but not necessarily in the next release:

• Allowing posting simultaneously to multiple blogs
• Easier tagging and categorizing
• Cleaning up the interface
• Support for Windows Live Spaces
• Setting posts to be published in the future

We're also looking into getting a support forum going, which we'll announce here on the blog when it's up.