Question

How do I get my site to appear on the Recently Updated List?

Answer

When you purchase Movable Type, you are given a unique key which is used to notify our home page when you have added a new entry to your site.

The Update key should be displayed on the main page of Your Movable Type Account under your license. Copy the key from this screen.

Then, log into your Movable Type installation and select Settings > New Entry Defaults, and scroll down to Publicity/Remote Interfaces1. Locate the Recently Updated Key setting, paste the key you...

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I really liked Phil Rignalda's PreviousNextInCategory that would basically show the Previous/Next entries in the same category as the current entry (kinda like <MTEntryPrevious> and <MTEntryNext>)

Unfortunately this plugin didn't work under the dynamic publishing system. So announcing PHP PreviousNextInCategory. There are two files in the zip file that will need to be uploaded to the php/plugins/ directory. The two files will provide the container tags <MTEntryPreviousInCategory> and <MTEntryNextInCategory> exactly like the perl version and are to be used in exactly the same way eg

<MTEntryPreviousInCategory> <a href="<$MTEntryPermalink$>">&laquo; <$MTEntryTitle$><...

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Question

I changed my mind about the title of an entry and rebuilt, but the file name is still showing the old title for this entry.

Answer

This behavior is intended to avoid breaking your permalinks (as in, if someone linked to your post and then you re-named it later). Movable Type uses the Entry Basename field by default to name Individual Entry Archives. The basename is assigned (from the entry title) the first time an entry is saved, and this field is not updated merely by changing the entry title.

Assuming you're not concerned about...

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04.28.2005

Blogs as a complement to newspapers

Forbes online picked up an Associated Press story about the eleven blogs being published by the editorial staff of the News & Record in North Carolina.

The broad range of Movable Type-powered blogs have earned high praise from others in the journalism business. As Editor & Publisher said:

"When the paper's overhaul is complete, it may be a model for the sort of 21st century paper that many journalism big thinkers have been talking about, chewing over, and confabbing on for the last few years," wrote the industry-watching magazine Editor & Publisher. "Greensboro will be the first place where this conceptually...

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The default styles that come with MT are what is known as 'fixed' styles. This means that size of objects and their positions are fixed and are defined in pixels (px) This also means, no matter what a person's screen resolution, everything will be the same width and in approximately the same position. Now this may seem good but - especially with MT's default styles - looks bad depending on the screen resolution. Taking for example MT 3's default styles, on a 1280x1024 screen resolution, the weblog appears as quite a narrow bar that is centered on the screen - not very appealing at all.

The other option to 'fixed' designs is 'fluid' designs. A fluid design uses percentages when defining...

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One way to set up a private, password-protected weblog is by adding a .htaccess file to the directory in which the weblog resides. htaccess files can give you extra control over your server, allowing you to password protect directories, enable server side includes, generate custom error messages, and block users by IP address among other things. I've already described the fundamentals of .htaccess in another tutorial, see What is .htaccess? If you are setting up .htaccess for the first time, be sure to read this tutorial thoroughly.

1. Create .htpasswd

The first thing you need to do, before creating your .htaccess file, is to create a file called .htpasswd, which will hold the user...

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Question

I'm using the Berkeley DB, and after changing hosts/servers, I'm unable to login because the new server has a different version of Berkeley. How do I convert the database files to the new version?

Answer

Converting the DB files over to the format used by the new library version can be accomplished in several different ways, depending on the Berkeley DB versions involved. The files that need to be converted are all of the files in your db directory whose filenames end in either .db or .idx (the .lock files do not need to be converted).

The following steps require...

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Question

When running the script, I get an error message that says Got an error: Bad ObjectDriver config: Connection error: [some error].

Answer

Too many connections

Your MySQL server is not permitting any more connections to your database; you'll need to contact your host for resolution of this error.

Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/path/to/socket'

• If your SQL database server is on localhost, but the socket is not in a standard location, you'll need to set the path using the DBSocket setting in mt-config.cgi1: DBSocket /path/to/mysql.sock...

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Question

Do you offer any installation instructions which are specific to Windows environments?

Answer

See Installing Movable Type on Windows in the 3.2 User Manual.

For more detailed information on configuring your Windows server to support a Movable Type installation, please see Installing Movable Type on Windows on the Six Apart website.

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Question

I want to create a plugin for Movable Type. Where can I find more information on doing this?

Answer

See Developing with the Movable Type API in the Users Manual.

Please note that assistance with plugin development is not covered by Basic Support; however, there are other resources available for assistance: • Our Community Forum offers a section dedicated to Plugin Development, where you can post for assistance or feedback about your plugin. • Our Professional Network offers a Members-Only Mailing List suitable for the discussion of plugin...

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Question

When I post more than one entry per day, the date only shows up for the most recent entry. How do I make the date show for every entry?

Answer

The default templates use the <MTDateHeader> container tag to control the display of entry dates: <MTDateHeader> <h2><$MTEntryDate format="%x"$></h2> </MTDateHeader>

The MTDateHeader tag is a container tag, and the contents of this container will be displayed only if this entry marks a new day in the list of entries.

So, in order to have the date...

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Question

What's the easiest way to change the look of my weblog?

Answer

The stylesheet template controls the layout and colors of your weblog. Other stylesheet options for various versions are available from Movable Type Styles.

For versions prior to 3.2, copy and paste the stylesheet you like into your Stylesheet template. Save and rebuild the template to see the changes on your weblog.

For version 3.2, see Applying a New Style From the Style Library.

Note that when choosing a new style for your weblog, you should select from among those...

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Question

When I run an upgrade script, I get this error message:

You have not yet upgraded to the #.# version of MT. Please do that before you run this script. Exiting...

where #.# is the version number I am trying to upgrade to.

Answer

When you see this message, it means Movable Type is still detecting files from the previous version on your server.

Make sure that you have uploaded all of the files from the new version package, and that all of the files from previous versions on the server were overwritten with the new files....

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The team at Backbone Media has published Corporate Blogging Survey 2005 a brief but useful look at a lot of key business blogging data. From case studies to analysis, the white paper (downloadable as PDF) includes an enormous amount of valuable information. And of course, the survey is accompanied by a Movable Type-powered blog to accept feedback from the community on their findings.

Though there's always questions about accuracy and sample sets with any survey, the key ideas in the survey are extremely credible:

We discovered that corporate blogs are giving established corporations and obscure brands the ability to connect with their audiences on a personal level, build trust,...

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Question

I see a new version of Movable Type has been released; does my license entitled me to download this version for free?

Answer

Each 3.x license entitles the owner to free Updates and discounts on Upgrades, where:

* an "Update" is identified by the change of the revision to the right of the decimal point, i.e. X.1 to X.2

* an "Upgrade" is identified by the change of the revision to the left of the decimal point, i.e. 3.X to 4.X

So, your license covers you for any 3.X releases; once a 4.X version is released, you can upgrade your license...

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Question

Are refunds available? How do I request one?

Answer

Refunds are available within the first 30 days of purchase under our money-back guarantee.

To request a refund of your license purchase, please log into Your Account and open a new help ticket with a subject of Refund, using the links to your right. Explain your request on the ticket and include the information regarding your order. Support staff will respond on the ticket with the information needed to initiate the refund transaction.

Note that you must log into the account using the...

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Question

Where can I review the terms of the particular license I purchased?

Answer

You can view the terms of your license from our Licenses page.

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Question

Where is my license key?

Answer

Your license key is displayed on the main page of Your Movable Type Account under your license (i.e., the Update key).

Please refer to Recently Updated List for more information on how to use this key.

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Question

When I run the upgrade, I see the message Upgrading database...starting upgrade..., but then nothing happens after that.

Answer

First, make sure you have Javascript enabled in your browser, as it is required when running Movable Type, including during the upgrade process.

If you do have Javascript enabled, then there may be a problem with your static files. See the section on Upgrading in the Knowledge Base article Images, Styles, and Documentation Do Not Show Up to make sure these files are present and properly situated on your server,...

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Question

How can I control the permissions on the files and directories generated by Movable Type?

Answer

Permissions on the generated files and directories are controlled by the *Umask and *Perms settings in the mt-config.cgi1 file. # DBUmask 0022 # HTMLUmask 0022 # UploadUmask 0022 # DirUmask 0022 # # HTMLPerms 0777 # UploadPerms 0777

For more information on using these settings correctly, see My PHP Output Files Need To Be Executable.

1 In versions prior to 3.2, the configuration file is named mt.cfg.

...

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