This is the current state of the layout for the next update to ScribeFire. In the left-hand column, we have the Blogs dropdown, the Posts dropdown, Categories, and Tags; in the larger right-hand section are the Title, Editor, and Publishing Options. (Click the screenshot for a larger view.)

I think that this arrangement gives the maximum amount of space possible to the editor while still keeping the other portions of the interface easily available.

What do you think? What would you change? What changes do you like?

I’d like your feedback on the layout of ScribeFire for Chrome (and ScribeFire Next for Firefox). Some users have complained that the current interface takes up too much space, or that it’s too cramped, or that it’s not cramped enough, or that it doesn’t take up enough space. Which of the following would you prefer? (Click each screenshot for a larger view.)

1. The current layout:

2. A bottom toolbar that lets you switch between sections like “Edit,” “Categories,” “Tags,” and “Publish:”

3. A mini-sidebar that moves Categories and Tags into a sidebar next to the editor:

4. A bigger sidebar that moves everything except the post title and editor into a sidebar:

5. Something else. (Explain yourself in the comments.)

Please leave a comment with the number that you’d vote for. Keep in mind that these are just rough approximations; ignore things like the exact colors or spacing between buttons.

ScribeFire is now available for the Opera Web browser; you can install it from the Opera Extensions website. Support for uploading images is still in progress, but everything else should work just as it does in ScribeFire for Chrome or ScribeFire Next for Firefox.

For those of you not aware, Opera is a Web browser that has been around since 1996; it’s not as widespread on the desktop as Firefox or Chrome, but it is the most popular mobile Web browser, and it’s also the browser that powers the Internet channel on the Nintendo Wii. (Odds are you’ve used Opera without even knowing it.) We’re happy to have ScribeFire be one of the first extensions available for Opera, and we hope that it can be one of the most popular as well.

In my previous post, I gave instructions on how you can translate ScribeFire into your language. That process has just gotten easier thanks to a new website that launched today.

Interpr.it simplifies the process of translating browser extensions. I’ve uploaded ScribeFire there, so if you want to translate it into your language, just go to ScribeFire’s page, choose your locale, and start translating the list of phrases that appears there. Before every update of ScribeFire, I’ll download the latest translated phrases and include them in the update. No fuss, no muss!

The Spanish locale is 100% complete thanks to Alfredo Cobián of Transpanglish, but there are still 55 more to go.

Do you speak more than one language? Is one of those languages English? If so, then you can help translate ScribeFire into your language!

Initial work has been completed on internationalizing ScribeFire for Chrome and ScribeFire Next for Firefox – this internationalization means that ScribeFire can now easily be translated into multiple languages.

If you’d like to help, “claim” your language in the comments and then download this text file. The official localization instructions are available from Google here, but the basic idea is that wherever you see something like

• “message” : “I want Taco Bell.”

you translate it into your language like so:

• “message” : “Yo quiero Taco Bell.”

Once you’ve translated as many sections as you can, e-mail your translated file to chris@scribefire.com so it can be included in the next update to ScribeFire. The global blogging community thanks you!

ScribeFire 3.5.3.2 was released yesterday, but today we had to remove it, as a large number of users reported that it caused their toolbar icons to disappear. ScribeFire 3.5.3.3 has been uploaded to the Mozilla Add-ons site; it is simply a copy of the previous version, 3.5.3.1.

Sorry for the inconvenience; we’re trying to figure out what went wrong, and we’ll have it fixed for the next update.

ScribeFire 3.5.3.2 has been uploaded to Mozilla Add-ons. This version adds compaibility for Firefox 4; if you are using the Firefox 4 beta, you can download the newest ScribeFire version here.

Version 1.4.3.0 of ScribeFire Next has been released. This version includes the following changes:

• Added image uploading to Blogger from Chrome.
• Added button for easy inserting of videos into blog posts.
• Retrieving more posts by default for WordPress
• Added search box for filtering the entries list

Google Chrome users, download ScribeFire 1.4.3.0 for Google Chrome here.

Safari users, download ScribeFire 1.4.3.0 for Safari here.

Firefox users, you can download ScribeFire Next 1.4.3.0 for Firefox here.

Another update to ScribeFire Next for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox is here. This version introduces support for WordPress’s Pages feature and fixes a login issue with Tumblr.

If you’re using WordPress, you can create a new page by selecting “(new)” from the Posts list under the “Pages” section:

Google Chrome users, download ScribeFire 1.4.2.0 for Google Chrome here.

Safari users, download ScribeFire 1.4.2.0 for Safari here.

Firefox users, you can download ScribeFire Next 1.4.2.0 for Firefox here.

ScribeFire Next 1.4.0.0 for Chrome, Safari, and Firefox is here.

What’s new in this version?

• Added support for excerpts

•  Cleaned up the date fields for scheduling posts

• ScribeFire now saves drafts locally if the blog doesn’t support saving them on the server; they’re referred to as “Local Drafts”

• Post content is now kept in the editor after publishing a post
• Better handling of invalid responses from blog APIs
• ScribeFire now saves drafts locally if the blog doesn’t support them
• Fixed manual blog setup
• Fixed bug affecting HTML inside PRE tags
• Fix to workaround buggy blog APIs

Google Chrome users, download ScribeFire 1.4.0.0 for Google Chrome here.

Safari users, download ScribeFire 1.4.0.0 for Safari here.

Firefox users, you can download ScribeFire Next 1.4.0.0 for Firefox here.