Adobe Adds Blogging Support To Contribute Web Tool

Adobe Systems Inc. Thursday shipped Contribute 4, an update to its Web publishing tool that has baked-in blogging support and boasts integration with the Microsoft Office suite on both Windows and Mac OS X.

Contribute 4 lets users post and publish content to multiple Web sites and blogs, allows them to work offline, and melds with Dreamweaver, the company's site design package, so that administrators can give access rights to Contribute users without worrying about them mucking up the site's look-and-feel.

The update connects to a trio of popular blogging services out of the box -- Blogger, Typepad, and Wordpress -- and offers the option of linking to in-house blog servers as well. Microsoft Office support lets users post new content to a site from within Word, Excel, and Outlook, said Adobe.

This is the first update to Contribute since Adobe acquired the software as part of its 2005 $3.4 billion merger with rival developer Macromedia.

"With Adobe Contribute 4 anyone with basic computer skills can easily publish updated information to the Web, offloading Web site administrators from tedious routines," said Don Walker, Adobe's senior director of product marketing, in a statement.Contribute 4 is available immediately for Windows 2000 and XP, and Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later for $149. Upgrades cost $79. The Mac version is not a Universal binary, but runs on Intel-based systems in emulation mode.