Blogging from the iPad is a pain for me. The current set of tools might work fine for someone who simply wants to create very basic posts without integration with any other apps, but as a power user I find myself yearning for better tools.

I’m not the only one.

Yesterday Shawn Blanc noted that:

There is one glaring hole of an app that would make my professional life
much easier: MarsEdit for iOS. Or something like it.

In response, Ben Brooks offered a better bookmarklet to improve link posts, but I’m seeking something deeper. **Here’s what I’d like to see in a dream blogging client on my iPad**:

• The ability to pull in URL, title, and selected text for link posts – this is what Ben built with his bookmarklet.
• TextExpander support.
• Markdown preview support. If it could pull in custom css that would be even better.
• While I’m dreaming, I’d like an integrated SmugMug browser since that’s my photo gallery of choice.

Shawn notes that his set of needs are “narrow and specific” and I’m also aware that what I want probably won’t appeal to the masses.

As I look over that list, maybe I just need XMLRPC publishing support built into the otherwise-excellent Elements (iTunes).