Gina Trapani has tied together a slick script to Set the Movable Type upload directory when uploading an image in FireFox. You'll need the Greasemonkey FireFox extension, which lets you execute a javascript when a specific web page loads, and then a simple configuration lets you prepend a path to the files you upload using Movable Type.

It's not just a cool idea, it's a good inspiration for other clever hacks using GreaseMonkey. Be sure to let us know if you've got a similar cool idea.

Trackbacks:

Looking Out - links for 2005-01-29 - January 28, 2005 10:18 PMMovalog: Password Protect Entries (categories: mt movabletype) Six Apart Professional Network: Upload Directory...

continue reading ...

Gautam Patel asks

I want to upload images but there is some html I want generated in each image invariably (not just the standard stuff) -- for example border="0" or align="left" or whatever. How do I hack the MT tmpl files/scripts to do this?

Open the file lib/MT/App/CMS.pm and around line 1902, find the following

my $link = $thumb ? qq(<img src="$thumb" width="$thumb_width" height="$thumb_height" border="0" />) : "View image";

As you can see, for the most part it is simple HTML. To align left, just add the attribute like this

my $link = $thumb ? qq(<img src="$thumb" width="$thumb_width" height="$thumb_height" border="0" align="left" />) : "View image";

There are two other lines you...

continue reading ...

1.3 (2001.12.11)

• Fixed bug where days="N" would override category="Foo" in <MTEntries> tag. (cwodtke) • Added DBM file locking (shared lock when reading, exclusive when writing). • Export process now exports excerpts, and import now imports them. • When you upload a file, if a file by that name (at that location) already exists, you now get a confirmation screen to overwrite the file, or not. (Requires that File::Temp is installed.) • Added search and replace functionality. • You can now upload files into specific directories...

continue reading ...

Question

When I upload an image, I do not get an option to thumbnail it.

Answer

The thumbnailing option depends on your server having both the ImageMagick libraries and the Perl module Image::Magick installed and working correctly. You can run mt-check.cgi to see if the module is installed.

If the module is not installed, you'll need to contact your host to request that it be installed. Once Image::Magick is detected and working correctly, the thumbnailing option should be visible.

If it does not, then the problem may be with the ImageMagick...

continue reading ...

Question

I get a 500 Internal Server Error when trying to run the Movable Type CGI files.

Answer

This is a very generic error which occurs when a Perl script fails to execute. The standard things to check are: • Is the path to Perl correct in the first line of each script?

• Were all of the script files uploaded to your server, and in ASCII mode? (Check for missing files and do not rely on an Auto-Detect feature for upload mode.)

• Have you set the proper permissions (UNIX equivalent of 755; read/write/execute) on the .cgi files?

• Is the version of Perl on...

continue reading ...

You may have noticed that we just announced the release of Movable Type 3.17 over on the MT News blog. This release is a small bug fix release in terms of changes, but an important one for those who are affected by the bugs.

If you're running MT 3.16 and would like to upgrade to this release with the minimum of hassle, you can simply upload the following changed files: • docs/ (a number of files) • README.txt • lib/MT.pm • lib/MT/App.pm • lib/MT/App/CMS.pm • lib/MT/Plugin.pm • lib/MT/Template/Context.pm • mt-db2sql.cgi • php/mt.php • plugins/nofollow/README.txt • plugins/nofollow/nofollow.pl • plugins/nofollow/tmpl/nofollow.tmpl • tmpl/cms/edit_comment.tmpl

For those of you on international versions, you...

continue reading ...

This plugin enables you to use WYSIWYG editor easily and customzably in Movable Type. There are many available open WYSIWYG editors. I've used HTMLArea and FCKeditor. Both are very good, even though they give some loads to your PC. But as time goes by, this load could be trivial.

My alogblogMTinterface plugin uses many alternate templates. Therefore the users who use my alogblogMTinterface might have some troubles in personally adapting other WYSIWYG editors. Of course I also have the same trouble whenever new W~G editors or its MT plugins are released. So I decided to provide W~G in it independently.

One of the powerful features of FCKeditor is the Media...

continue reading ...

About a year ago, I wrote an article, introducing a method for displaying a random image every time someone visits a web page. Administration was simple: just add or remove images from a folder on the server, and they would appear (or disappear, respectively) from the pool of random images being displayed on that page.

There are many benefits to randomizing an image on a web page, one of the most significant being the feeling of freshness it can add to an otherwise static site. Visitors returning to the page feel that, although the content might not have been updated, something has changed, and the site might be worth revisiting again in the future.

The Downside

Although the implementation...

continue reading ...

Question

How can I convert from using mt.cfg to the new mt-config.cgi file in version 3.2?

Answer

• Download your mt.cfg file in ASCII mode and open it in a plain text editor.

• Open mt-config.cgi-original in the text editor also.

• Note any existing settings which are uncommented1 in your mt.cfg file and make sure you duplicate them in mt-config.cgi-original.

• If you're using MySQL, make sure this line is uncommented:DBPassword <database-password> and replace <database-password> with the value for your password from mt-db-pass.cgi.

• Save mt-config.cgi-original...

continue reading ...

Movable Type has a nifty feature called "alternate templates" which allows you to substitute the default MT interface with a customized one. These aren't "individual archive" or "category archive" template replacements, these are replacements for the actual entry-editing interface.

I've only made a handful of alternate templates, but more will be added here as I create and modify them. (You might want to look at set up first.) Currently available are: • Updated 2005/08/29: edit_entry.tmpl is for creating and editing entries. • Added 2005/05/30: preview_entry.tmpl is for previewing entries. (Deprecated. Superceded by the plugin Better Entry Preview.)...

continue reading ...

Question

I'm on a Windows server, so I need to use .pl instead of .cgi extensions on the script file names. How do I configure Movable Type for this?

Answer

We highly recommend that, rather than using .pl extensions, you configure Windows to use .cgi for Perl scripts instead.

Some plugins have configuration URLs which use .cgi extensions, so these links will not work if the server is not configured to recognize the file extension as a valid Perl script. Changing these plugin scripts to use .pl isn't a good idea, as they are typically stored in...

continue reading ...

After the dutchpink was released, I had an idea to skin Movable Type such that a user could easily switch between stylesheets. So after a lot of work with javascript, here is the package:

SkinningMT.zip SkinningMT.tar.gz

1. Extract the contents of the distribution 2. Upload the tmpl files in ASCII to the appropriate places (MTDIR/tmpl/cms) 3. Upload mt-styleswitcher.php and the styles/ directory into your StaticWebPath (if none then your into your MT Directory, same location as mt.cgi)

The drop-down menu shows up on the main menu ( screenshot) The only requirement is that your server runs PHP. The styles directory, its contents and mt-styleswitcher.php goes into your StaticWebPath. In mt-styleswitcher.php, change movalog.com to your domain name...

continue reading ...

One of the challenges facing the modern web designer is to create sites that appear fresh and new every time a visitor shows up.

It's one thing if the site you're designing is a news site, for example, where stories or headlines will be updated on a regular basis, providing fresh content on the hour - or even more frequently. But what about those of us designing sites for clients with relatively static pages whose content changes infrequently? How can we provide fresh, changed content for our visitors on each subsequent visit, without relying on someone to generate this content on a daily or even hourly basis?

Changing the page only slightly and in...

continue reading ...

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...

continue reading ...

While we often talk about "dynamic" sites and site designs, let's face it, they're all rather static: the same basic templates are used with different content. "Fluid" designs allow for some variation, but most use the same computer to view every site, so they won't see the "fluidity" (if that's a word). For the most part, that's a fine thing - a connected, familiar view of every page makes your site more comfortable and easier to use.

I wanted to overcome some of the static-ness of most site designs with Scrapbook. Photos and photo galleries are a popular thing on danandsherree.com, so they were an obvious...

continue reading ...

Updated. Originally published Jan 2, 2004

Error messages are the messages that are displayed when a visitor to your site encounters a server error. The most common error messages are 404: File Not Found and 403: Access Forbidden. The 404 error message is displayed when a visitor to your site tries to access a page that does not exist on your server. The 403 message is displayed when a visitor tries to enter an area on your site that is off limits to the public.

You can customize your error messages so that instead of seeing an ugly server message, your visitor sees instead a personalized note from you. The methods are different depending on if you are doing static (the default) or dynamic...

continue reading ...

Movable Type uses a template system to generate the pages of your weblog. To change which content elements and how they are displayed on the pages of your blog, you need to make changes to the appropriate templates.

Selecting "Manage Templates" from the sidebar navigation in your weblog edit screen will show you the list of templates, but what do they all do? And, if you are trying to conserve storage space on your server, are there any you can delete?

Index Templates

Index templates have individual output files, specific to the template. Let's go down the list.

Click on image to enlarge

• Atom Index - The Atom Index produces an Atom syndication feed, atom.xml for those...

continue reading ...

Question

How do I convert from one database type to another?

Answer

Convert from Berkeley to SQL

To determine whether your server supports a SQL database, and the Perl libraries required to connect to it, run mt-check.cgi and look at the status for any of the following modules: DBD::mysql, DBD::Pg, or DBD::SQLite. If any of these are installed, your server will support that version of Movable Type. If none of these are installed, you will need to contact your host to have them installed if you wish to use a SQL database.

If you are interested in...

continue reading ...

Co-authored by Arvind Satyanarayan and Elise Bauer Tutorial cross posted on Movalog and Learning Movable Type

With the release of Movable Type 3.1 comes a new and powerful feature - Dynamic Publishing. To take advantage of Dynamic Publishing, you need to edit or create a file on your Apache server called .htaccess as explained in the Movable Type Manual. 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. (See this Guide to .htaccess for more information.)

Note: You should really know what you are doing before...

continue reading ...

I have been playing around with Zoto and I'm quite impressed.

Uploading Pictures

One of the things about this service is the ease at which you can upload photos. Just download their client (called Zulu) set it up to scan folders where you put your photos and it'll do the rest for you meaning it scans the folders, makes thumbnails of the images and uploads them ! If you add photos to those folder then the client will pick them up too. I experienced a few problems with the client. It told me it had uploaded all my photos yet when I looked in my account they didn't show up, on uninstalling and reinstall the client they showed up !

Of course you could manually upload them, by selecting...

continue reading ...