Continuing on from yesterday's post showing how to make a slideshow from posts in your Movable Type weblog, you might be interested in other ways to present your blog posts so that people who don't read blogs can keep up with what you're publishing.

Today we'll look at Microsoft Office's support for XML, particularly WordML, the XML Schema used to make documents in Microsoft Word's XML format. (If you just want to see the end results, take a look at wordml.xml, showing the Professional Network blog as a WordML file.)

To understand how this works, it helps to know a little bit about how WordML works. John R. Durant's blog has some indispensable links about this topic. If you want to...

continue reading ...

Signing In to Movable Type

Problem

You need to sign in to Movable Type.

Solution

Point your browser to the Movable Type Content Management System script (typically mt.cgi) and enter your username and password.

Discussion

Before using the system, each author must identify themselves by signing in. The purpose of this exercise is not only to secure the contents of the system, but also to provide customizations based on user preferences.

Begin by entering your username and password. (If you are the first person to log into this system your username will be "Melody" and...

continue reading ...

The long-awaited Movable Type upgrade to version 3.2 is now available.

continue reading ...

It's Movable Type Fun Day!

First start with Paul's account of switching from .html file extensions to .php, and how gracefully MT handled the transition. Even existing off-site bookmarks don't break!

Then head over to Scott's place to read up on how he managed to wrangle Movable Type into producing human-friendly, meaningful URLs instead of the arbitrary sequential URLs that MT ships with. Fun!

Then take a look at the URL attached to this post (click the title), and rejoice for I too have switched to more meaningful URLs. Except… oh wait. Look at that. No I haven't.

The intent is there, but instead of something nice and tidy like...

continue reading ...

John Gruber found (as I did recently) that the Movable Type RSS 0.91 template doesn't validate using the new RSS validator (kudos to Mark Pilgrim and Sam Ruby for developing the tool. Mine validates now.). John offers a way to fix it using a new custom plugin, <$MTrfc822BlogTimeZone$>. For those that already have my Regex plugin installed, you can do this instead: <lastBuildDate><MTEntries lastn="1"><$MTEntryDate format="%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S"$> <$MTBlogTimezone regex="s/://"$></MTEntries></lastBuildDate> <pubDate><$MTDate format="%a, %d %b %Y...

continue reading ...

There is an email going around from Ben Trott to gather people to test MT 3.1. The release to the public is scheduled for August 31st. Reading the email, it seems to be sent to everyone that has either bought a license for MT or signed up to the developer's network. Again the same rules as the previous alpha/beta testing apply including "you must agree not to publicly discuss any details of the software or the beta testing experience itself."

If interested in signing up, a link has been provided to a form to sign up from. People will then be chosen at random for the beta testing ! The beta begins Monday August 9th and will run in phases so as not to introduce any beta-level bugs into a...

continue reading ...

Movable Type Date Formats

All date and time tags inherit the two attributes that control their presentation.

Movable Type uses standard strftime format strings to describe date and time layouts using the format attribute. Furthermore, the language attribute can be used to override the weblog's preferred language setting in weekday names, month names, and AM/PM codes. This override will apply only for the particular date string that you are formatting.

Date and Time Codes

The following are the recognized date and time format codes: • %a

The abbreviated weekday name. Example: Thu...

continue reading ...

Hacking Movable Type, the long awaited book by MT experts Jay Allen, Brad Choate, Ben Hammersley, David Raynes and Matt Haughey, is now in print, shipping, and available at Amazon.com.

From the book's back cover:

Ready to push Movable Type to the max?

Movable Type, that amazingly powerful personal publishing application, is the superhero of the Internet age. But when you push, poke, stretch, and otherwise coax it into producing even more, the possibilities for your Web content are simply superlative. Roll up your sleeves and get movinghere's the first book to tell you how.

Discover how to do all this and more

1. Hack the perfect installation 2. Hack the database 3. Play with Atom, Perl, and XML-RPC APIs...

continue reading ...

We know that many of you are getting as excited as we are about the upcoming release of Movable Type 3.2 and we wouldn't want to keep you waiting any longer than necessary to experience what the new version has to offer.

So, without further ado, today we are announcing the availability of Movable Type 3.2 Beta. The beta test is a completely open beta test available to anyone who wishes to try out the latest.

Over on the Beta Blog, you'll find everything related to the beta test including, obviously, the code, but also an entire community of other people testing out the software at the same time.

It's going to be an MT party, so make sure you drop by. No need to RSVP. Everyone is...

continue reading ...

I just read an interesting post about Movable Type and plugins (specifically Workflow). In a nutshell, the argument is that Movable Type is a product - one which costs money - and having to buy add-ons to provide what is perceived as core functionality isn't a good thing. It's an interesting argument, and one that I can understand as a consumer.

When that equation flips around, however, is when there is an issue. The developing of plugins really doesn't take that much time. I can write something that works on my system in a flash, and then pack it up so that anyone can download it.

What kills me is the testing and support time required. Not everyone uses the same setup as I do, and...

continue reading ...

12.12.2001

Version 1.3 Released

We have released a new version of Movable Type, version 1.3. Existing users of versions 1.0-1.2 should use the upgrade distribution to update their MT installation, and should follow the upgrade instructions.

In addition to bug fixes and improvements to general stability, this release adds the following features: • XML-RPC server implementation of the Blogger API, so you can use existing XML-RPC clients to post to Movable Type ( more information) • Search and replace functionality ( more information) • Ability to specify the directory in which upload files are placed, rather than just dumping files into the archive...

continue reading ...

We've just posted the newest article to the Professional Network site: Customizing Movable Type's Interface with Application Templates. As we mentioned when Movable Type 3.16 was released, our support for custom application templates has been beefed up in current releases of Movable Type. This new article discusses how application templates work, why you'd want to make use of them, and some examples of how they've already been deployed.

From the article:

If you're looking for inspiration: Take a look at the work that's already been released in the community. Alex Sancho created a liquid template for displaying Movable Type's interface, letting the information in the application reflow...

continue reading ...

Elise Bauer's Learning Movable Type has helped countless people understand the intricacies and harness the power of Movable Type and we thought it was worth pointing out two essays recently published there.

The first, written Neil Turner (who just celebrated his three year anniversary using Movable Type), is entitled "Making the Most of SpamLookup" and is essentially the "missing manual" of the number one spam-fighting plugin now bundled with Movable Type 3.2. We'll be publishing our own docs on the plugin soon, but in the meantime it's one of the best resources for understanding how it works beyond just "perfectly"!

The second, "Understanding the Category Listing Code", was cowritten by Elise and award-winning plugin developer and MT consultant...

continue reading ...

danandsherree.com is built using Six Apart's Movable Type 2.661. It's good software, pretty easy to use, and free. (Well, it was free, anyway.)

When Movable Type 3.0 Developer Edition was announced I was left rather underwhelmed by it's few new features. Plus, they started charging for it under certain conditions - which we meet. The "Developer Edition" part bugged me because there was no mention of a non-Developer Edition version - was this for general consumption? I had no interest in the upgrade.

Three months later and Movable Type 3.1 has been announced - a normal, non-Developer Edition, for the rest of us. The exciting part is that...

continue reading ...

Thanks in large part to the help and feedback from Professional Network members, we've just released Movable Type 3.14. This release addresses the performance issues detailed last week, and we'll be providing additional guidance and information to ProNet members later this week once this release is deployed. Thank you to all who contributed and tested this version over the weekend.

Trackbacks:

einfach-persnlich - Movable Type 3.14 freigegeben - December 21, 2004 07:50 AMDie Version 3.14 von Movable Type ist freigegeben. Six Apart reagiert als Hersteller der Weblog-Software Movable Type damit auf die aktuellen Fehler ihres Weblog-Tools und empfiehlt allen Anwendern das...

continue reading ...

Skip navigation. • TypePad • Movable Type • LiveJournal • About Us • Support

October 2004

10.19.2004

Movable Type 3.12 released

Movable Type 3.12 has just been released in the US. This version fixes up and ties down tons of little issues that were affecting some users in 3.11. See below for an overview of the most significant changes. If you already purchased Movable Type, you'll find the new release when you log into your Movable Type account. If you haven't yet tried this ground-breaking publishing platform, now is a good time to Get Movable Type.

I hope this release improves...

continue reading ...

Running Movable Type with suexec or cgiwrap

Problem

You want to make your Movable Type system more secure with suexec or cgiwrap.

Solution

Run the system under cgiwrap or suexec.

Discussion

cgiwrap and suexec are special tools on the web server that allow your CGI scripts to be executed as "you", rather than as the web server. This simplifies Movable Type installation, because you no longer have to set permissions on your weblog or db directories, although you still need to set the permissions on the CGI scripts themselves. It is also more secure, because your weblog...

continue reading ...

Today I was working with someone and having a bear of a time getting their 3.17 install working on their GoDaddy hosting account. It turns out that the way the script name was accessed had changed - and since GoDaddy runs under sbox, it was returning sbox as the name when it redirected you back to the page! So with a few small edits to App.pm, I got around this issue and made things work.

I'm still having problems with getting dynamic publishing to work on GoDaddy, but at least we're making progress. If you are installing Movable Type on your GoDaddy host, and running into problems, take a look at our Movable Type Consulting Services to see how we can help.

Update: I think I have...

continue reading ...

Doug Bowman's made an amazing new set of Movable Type templates available on Stopdesign, simply titled Photo Gallery Templates. The power and flexibility of the Movable Type platform is really shown off in Doug's work, which uses almost twenty (!) plugins, easily imports photos from iPhoto on the Mac, and generates and incredibly elegant, powerful presentation for your photos.

If you're trying to find inspiration for your own Movable Type hacking, are interested in doing justice to your photos using the full power of Movable Type, or just want to marvel at some really creative work, give Doug's writeup a look.

Trackbacks:

Previous Entry: Amazingly Automatic Authentication...

continue reading ...

Skip navigation. • TypePad • Movable Type • LiveJournal • About Us • Support

February 2005

02.15.2005

Our New home: Powered by Movable Type

Welcome to the new home of Movable Type! I want to tell you all a little bit about what we've done and point out all of the regular features that you're used to - they're all still here. But first, let me address the reasons why we did it.

First and foremost, we are a blogging company. Our three solutions -- Movable Type, TypePad and LiveJournal all offer something unique and valuable to three distinct...

continue reading ...