Blog Post Creator - Local Desktop Application

A polished desktop application for creating Jekyll blog posts locally. No need to manually format markdown or use the web interface.

Features

✨ Easy to Use

• Modern tabbed interface (Details, Content, Preview & Publish)
• Auto-slug generation from title
• Category selection with emojis
• Character counter for SEO descriptions
• Live markdown preview

🎯 Smart Functionality

• Automatically detects your GitHub Pages repository
• Saves posts directly to _posts/ directory
• Optional one-click commit & push to GitHub
• Remembers your last selected categories
• Full emoji support for categories

🔧 Integrated Workflow

• Create posts entirely offline
• Git integration to commit and push
• Template content to get started quickly
• Validates all required fields

Installation & Usage

Windows

1. Double-click launch-blog-creator.bat to launch the app
2. Fill in your post details
3. Write content in the “Content” tab
4. Review in “Preview & Publish” tab
5. Click “Create Post” to save and optionally push to GitHub

macOS / Linux

1. Run ./launch-blog-creator.sh
2. Same workflow as Windows

Manual Launch

python3 blog-post-creator.py

Requirements

• Python 3.6+
• tkinter (comes with Python)
• Git (for commit/push feature)

What It Does

Tab 1: Post Details

• Title: Your blog post title (auto-generates URL slug)
• Categories: Select from 7 categories with emojis
• Tags: Add comma-separated tags
• Date & Time: Publication date/time
• Read Time: Estimated reading time in minutes
• Featured Image: URL to post image
• Description: SEO meta description (character counter)

Tab 2: Content

• Write your post in Markdown
• Comes with a helpful template
• Full syntax support

Tab 3: Preview & Publish

• Live markdown preview with Jekyll frontmatter
• “Create Post” button to save the file
• Optional automatic Git commit & push

File Naming Convention

Posts are saved as: YYYY-MM-DD-your-slug-title.markdown

Example: 2026-01-29-my-awesome-post.markdown

Configuration

The app remembers your last selected categories in ~/.blog-creator-config.json

Git Integration

When you click “Create Post”, you’ll be asked if you want to:

1. Save the file locally only, OR
2. Commit and push to GitHub automatically

The app will:

1. Stage the new post file
2. Commit with message: “Add: Blog post - [Your Title]”
3. Push to your remote repository

Troubleshooting

“Could not find _posts directory”

• Make sure your GitHub Pages repository is properly set up
• The app tries to auto-detect common locations, but you can manually select it

Git errors when pushing

• Ensure you have git configured with your GitHub credentials
• Check that your remote is set up correctly: git remote -v

Python/tkinter errors

• Ensure Python 3.6+ is installed
• tkinter usually comes with Python. On Linux, you may need to install it separately:

  # Ubuntu/Debian
  sudo apt-get install python3-tk
    
  # macOS (Homebrew)
  brew install python-tk
  

Tips

💡 For Best Results:

• Keep titles clear and descriptive (slug will be auto-generated)
• Use standard Markdown syntax in the content
• Add featured images for better visual appeal
• Categories and tags help with discoverability
• Keep meta descriptions under 160 characters for SEO

📚 Markdown Guide:

# Heading 1
## Heading 2
### Heading 3

**Bold text**
*Italic text*
- Bullet list
1. Numbered list

[Link text](https://example.com)

![Image alt](image-url)

\`\`\`python
# Code block
code here
\`\`\`

License

MIT License - Feel free to modify and share!