2.65 (2003.12.18)

• Added Atom syndication feed template (atom.xml) and auto-discovery for Atom feed to main index template. • Added <MTIfNonEmpty> and <$MTEntryModifiedDate$> tags, and added a exclude_port attribute to <$MTBlogHost$>. • Fixed security issue with XML-RPC server. • Added proper handling of offsets in ISO-8601 dates in XML-RPC requests. If timezone offset is omitted, timestamps are assumed to be in the weblog's timezone already; otherwise, the timezone offset is first applied, then the weblog's offset is applied on top...

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2.62 (2003.02.16)

• Fixed a security vulnerability.

Permalink

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If you've ever maintained a web site with an FTP program and a text editor, you know what I'm talking about when I say that there has to be a better way.

Well, I thought about that so long that I finally did something about it. If you are using IIS, make sure to check out Blue Spark.

The past week I've been putting together this tidy little self–contained program that allows you to administer your text–based files on the server itself, rather than having to worry about multiple transfers back and forth. Viewed through a web browser, Blue Spark is plain and simple, but effective enough to be useful.

Note: While officially designated v1.0, I thought of a...

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Development on MT version 2.0 is going smoothly and we're looking at a early March release. Can you believe it's almost February?

A list of definite 2.0 features: • Multiple category support: The ability to assign multiple categories per entry • Multiple archive template per archive type • Interface modifications, application navigation and icon improvements based on findings from professional usability testing • Power edit screen: Apply title, category or author changes to multiple entries -- using one screen and all at once • More sorting options for the MTEntries tag: alphabetical by title, most recently commented-on, ascending and descending chronologically • Mail this entry • IP banning for comments...

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Setting up a consistent, well-organized website is kind of like building a new house. You can rush in, sticking bricks and mortar hither and yon with wanton abandon, and wonder why a few months down the track your roof leaks and visitors are hit by falling debris.

Or you can plan ahead, and make up a blueprint for your site, keeping expandability in mind at all times. After all, what designer doesn't want to add new content? And what site doesn't sometimes need to change its underlying technology?

Sadly enough, a frequently overlooked step in this process is the structure of your links - the actual URLs you'll be using to point to items on your site....

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Enabling a Category as a TrackBack repository

Problem

You want to accept pings related to a weblog category from other TrackBack-enabled publishing tools.

Solution

Use the "Accept incoming TrackBack pings" option on the Edit Category screen.

Discussion

You can use TrackBack for more than just communicating a link on particular entries. TrackBack pings can also be associated with weblog categories.

For example, if you run a site about Perl, you could provide a repository of links to Perl articles and posts on other weblogs. Using TrackBack, you can allow other weblogs to ping...

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Movable Type offers five default stylesheet templates to use with your MT website. If you are like me, not a web designer and only possessing a cursory knowledge of CSS, you may not want to stray too far from the defaults. But then that doesn't leave us with a lot of choice in the number of default styles from which to choose. Fortunately, Typepad (Six Apart's hosted service based on Movable Type) has several default styles that will work with the new Movable Type templates.

I've tested the following Typepad styles on the new default MT3 templates, with the sidebar on the right hand side, and they appear to work fine. If you have changed your MT3 templates layout at all, for...

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Submitting a Help Ticket

Problem

You are having a problem with Movable Type that you are unable to resolve.

Solution

Open a help ticket with Six Apart support.

Discussion

Personal technical support through the online help ticket system is included with any paid license for Movable Type 3.0 or later.

You can file a ticket by signing in to your Movable Type account at https://secure.sixapart.com/t/account. Once inside you will see a box entitled "Help & Support" on the right hand side. Click the "Open a New Ticket" link and fill out the ticket. Choose from the list of...

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Question

When I try to log into Your Account, I get an error message that says "Your User Record Could Not Be Found".

Answer

A Movable Type account will not exist for you until you download a 3.x license using your registered TypeKey name. You must first select a license from our Pricing page and then log in with the TypeKey username when prompted. Downloading the license is what creates the account in our system.

Paid Licenses

If you paid for a supported license, you'll need to use the order number link from your email receipt to...

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Setting Up a New Weblog

Problem

You want to create a new weblog.

Solution

Click the Weblogs System Shortcut found on the Main Menu and follow the "Create New Weblog" link on the Weblogs Listing screen.

Discussion

Creating a new weblog tailored to your specific needs and liking takes a bit of time and consideration. However, getting one set up and running can be taken care of in just a few steps.

From the Main Menu click the Weblogs System Shortcut and then the "Create New Weblog" link on the Weblogs Listing screen.

Now fill out the four form fields on the New Weblog Settings...

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The history of science is crowded with stories about competitive researchers sprinting for new discoveries. First place gets patents, research money, and sometimes a Nobel. Second place gets a snarky note in the sidebar of junior-high science textbooks. While competition can foster innovation, scientific progress is retarded when researchers delay the publication of groundbreaking cancer research data in order to secure the most advantageous patents, or when research teams refuse to share information for fear of a licensing double-cross.

Happily, web development isn't genome science. Your reputation may be solidified if you work out a zingy new CSS technique or write a...

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Question

How do I make changes to the default search template visitors see when searching my weblog?

Answer

You can modify the search template by downloading the search_templates/default.tmpl file from your server and editing it with a plain text editor. Then upload it back to your server in ASCII mode.

Power Tip

You can more easily manage your default search template (and any alternate search templates) by linking them to a new Template Module.

Create the new Template Module, and enter the full server path to the default search template in the...

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Installing Movable Type on Windows

Problem

You want to run Movable Type on a Windows system.

Solution

Movable Type has been developed to run on a wide variety of operating systems including Windows, although this entails some additional considerations.

Discussion

One of Movable Type's strengths as a platform is that it runs in a wide variety of environments, letting you choose the operating system, web server, and database. As a Perl-based application though, Movable Type has historically been most at home on Unix-based operating systems like Linux, BSDs, or Mac OS X.

If you have chosen Windows as...

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Question

Movable Type doesn't have the permissions it needs on Windows to publish my files.

Answer

The user (iusr_server, where server is the unique name of your machine) is not assigned any permissions by default, so you'll need to add that user to the folder where you want Movable Type to publish your weblog files.

Give the user either full control, or (at a minimum) the following permissions: • modify • read & execute • list folder contents • read • write

Once you've added those permissions to the dialog box and before you click OK, go to Advanced on the...

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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...

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Question

When someone tries to add their address to my notification list, this error comes up:

Email notifications have not been configured! The weblog owner needs to set the EmailVerificationSecret configuration variable.

Answer

If you wish to add a form to your site so that visitors can sign up for site update notifications, you will also need to set the EmailVerificationSecret variable in mt-config.cgi1. This setting allows Movable Type to secure the notification signup process so that visitors have to verify their email addresses.

Here are the steps to enable...

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04.15.2005

Workflow for Movable Type released

Workflow, a new plugin for Movable Type 3.1x, has just been released by David Raynes. While we don't usually feature new plugins as part of our news about the Movable Type platform, we thought it was worth pointing out because Workflow adds a powerful new area of functionality, and also marks a milestone for the growth of our plugin community.

First, the features: Workflow lets you limit control of publshing rights to certain authors in your Movable Type installation, allowing other people on the system to act as editors and review entries before they're published. Administrators can control who has rights to...

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Question

Can I add additional logins to my account for others to open help tickets on my behalf, or on behalf of my organization?

Answer

Currently, we only allow one login for each account in the system. In order for others to have access to the Help System through your account, you would need to provide your login information to them. (Please note that the sharing of a login account merely to avoid purchasing multiple supported licenses is not permitted.)

If, in the future, you would like to remove access for this person, you could then change...

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Today we are releasing Movable Type 3.17. This release addresses four issues that do not affect the majority of installations, but are critical for users with certain configurations.

Version 3.17 is not a required upgrade if your Movable Type installation is not affected by these issues.

Changes in this release include: • Installation at the root of a domain no longer continually logs out the user. • Fixed URL-encoding of uploaded file paths (e.g. images%2fbeach-pic.jpeg) • Fixed a bug in the nofollow plugin which causes HTML sanitization of everything within an <MTPings> block. • Fixed a bug in mt-db2sql.cgi which caused it to fail in certain situations when subcategories...

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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...

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