Tangelo is a blog publishing system from the creator of Frequency. Like Frequency, Tangelo is a cross-platform tool. This means that it is developed simultaneously for the Mac OS and for Windows, and has the same interface and features on both systems. (Refer to my review of Frequency for the pros and cons of this scenario.) Unlike Frequency, Tangelo provides a complete blogging system, so you don't need an existing third-party blogging account to use it. As of this writing, Tangelo is in beta development, and no official releases are available for download. Therefore, its functionality is likely to change from what you read in this review.

Users of Frequency will be comfortable with Tangelo. When first running the application, you are prompted to enter some basic information for configuring your blog, such as your name, email address, and blog URL. You will also need to choose whether you want the files to be saved locally, for manual publishing, or whether you want Tangelo to connect directly to an FTP server. The FTP option is refreshingly easy to use - during setup, Tangelo actually connects to the server you specify, and allows you to browse to the proper directory, as well as create a new directory if desired. Setup finishes with some questions about blog publishing options; for example, how many entries to display on the main page, or what type of archives to keep.

Once Tangelo is configured, blog entries can be created, edited, and deleted from the main window. The creation/editing window is essentially the same as Frequency's. There is a space for the entry title and body, as well as controls for HTML formatting. You can also add images or links to your blog entries by selecting the appropriate choice from the Web Page Elements drop-down menu. You can add these links and images directly from the window that appears when selecting link or image creation, or you can manage your own library of links and images from Tangelo's main window. With this library, you can drag and drop images directly into Tangelo for later use.

Publishing is accomplished by hitting the "Save" button in the main editing window. The files are immediately uploaded to the FTP server you have configured.

Tangelo allows you to customize the look and feel of your blog by way of a "Templates" interface. Clicking the Templates button will bring up a list of templates, including the main template and the site's stylesheet. These templates use custom "tags," which look like HTML, but will insert relevant data from your weblog into the template. You can also change the default template's colors, layout, and style using these templates. At the moment, there is no graphical management of templates, so you will need to have some experience with HTML coding to customize your blog.

As Tangelo is still in beta development, there is no documentation available. However, since its blog entry interface is similar to the sister product, Frequency, Frequency's documentation may prove somewhat useful.

At this point, the biggest caveat is that Tangelo is a beta product. It has not been publicly released, and there is no way for the general public to download it. Any of the features I've described in this review are subject to change before the final release. Keep watch on the Tangelo homepage for a public release announcement.

Tangelo is a very young program, and its feature set is not fully fleshed out. It looks promising, however, and could be an excellent cross-platform blogging system.

All of the contents of this site are copyright 2004 by Peter R. Wood, unless otherwise indicated. Email me if you have any questions.