I'm gonna have a rant about this - if only because it has to be stated over and over again.
This is the holy grail of web publishing as far as I'm concerned and something I've been chasing for more than a decade. It's simply unbelievable that it isn't a standard operation in this day and age. All these fancy looking editors like FCK and Rad that are used in portal systems like DNN are nothing more than text formatters. I can drag and drop an image into a document here on my computer.. there is simply no technical reason why one should not be able to do the same thing when the file system is across a network... on a web server.
Tools that have come close are FrontPage/Expression Web, Sharepoint Services and Office, and also more recently, Windows Live Writer. They all provide a process whereby one can paste an image into one's document and not have to worry too much about it thereafter. Microsoft knows this is an important requirement, and also that it requires applications that work across the network and are more than just a web browser. All of their solutions do that. DNN and other similar tools sit all alone on the server and have to be operated through the browser alone... relying on third parties to plug their publishing tools into it.
The fact that there is no decent image processing in any editor is also the reason that sites made with DNN are generally bland and just full of text. We only have to look at the DNN site right here.. if it didn't have adverts on it, it would be 100% text... and this is made by people who actually do have the skills to resize and format image files for upload... it's just nuts! The core FCK team have displayed no interest in the issue either and treat the entire document creation procedure as something out of scope... the project is merely a plug-in gadget for FCK. I think that's seriously not understanding one's audience.
There is nothing complicated about the technology... it's old hat. First, a clip board holds image data as well.. use it!... or Image resizing on upload, resizing on the server in the editor, saving a copy of the file.. all of this can be done, but no 'rich text' editor will ever be able to provide a decent content creation experience unless it is integrated much more tighly into the DNN framework.
sorry for the rant, but it's a huge! issue for me, this one.. it's such a blindingly obvious need for anyone who actually uses all these tools to publish that I can't believe it just goes on year after year without any movement.
DNN Corp should embrace rich content publishing as a strategic goal. I'd volunteer to project manage that!
Charles, there was some talk about the core Blog supporting Windows Live Writer. It won't be happening any time soon, but perhaps your client would prefer to use a platform that makes use of that? I'd look into it perhaps, given that their needs are generally paramount over the choice of framework.
Rob