Recently in user interface Category
A Movable Type design (theme) contest has been launched with some pretty good prizes:
NB: The theme has to work with Movable Type 5, which is the most recent version
- Adobe Creative Suite
- iPad
NB: The theme has to work with Movable Type 5, which is the most recent version
Mark Carey from MT Hacks has released yet another useful plugin - the SelectiveCloner under a GPL license.
SelectiveCloner bridges a gap left by the "Cloner" plugin that ships with MT, as SelectiveCloner allows you to make a carbon copy of a blog's settings, templates and permissions WITHOUT content. If you want to rollout multiple blogs with the same look and feel Carey's latest release should save you quite a bit of time.
More information on his site.
SelectiveCloner bridges a gap left by the "Cloner" plugin that ships with MT, as SelectiveCloner allows you to make a carbon copy of a blog's settings, templates and permissions WITHOUT content. If you want to rollout multiple blogs with the same look and feel Carey's latest release should save you quite a bit of time.
More information on his site.
While I am not a designer, I do like to be able to customise certain aspects of a site's display without being forced to "jump through hoops".
MT 3.* had some level of logic in the organisation of templates, but the default set was a bit complicated to get to grips with at times.
With the arrival of MT4 the template system seemed to improve, but it was still quite complicated in some respects.
The latest iteration of MT4, MT4.2 Pro makes the templates a lot more accessible for the HTML challenged. For the first time (that I am aware of at least) you can now see all of the templates in a single view.
Since the latest version of MT is a bit of a monster, in terms of what it can do, not only do you have control over blog specific templates, but you can also access the system-wide templates (Global Templates), which are accessible from the "system" menu (if you're logged in as an admin).
In the Global Template section you can easily control and customise things like the email footers and a whole range of other options.
Now if only I could actually design .....
MT 3.* had some level of logic in the organisation of templates, but the default set was a bit complicated to get to grips with at times.
With the arrival of MT4 the template system seemed to improve, but it was still quite complicated in some respects.
The latest iteration of MT4, MT4.2 Pro makes the templates a lot more accessible for the HTML challenged. For the first time (that I am aware of at least) you can now see all of the templates in a single view.
Since the latest version of MT is a bit of a monster, in terms of what it can do, not only do you have control over blog specific templates, but you can also access the system-wide templates (Global Templates), which are accessible from the "system" menu (if you're logged in as an admin).
In the Global Template section you can easily control and customise things like the email footers and a whole range of other options.
Now if only I could actually design .....
If you have the iPhone (iMT) plugin installed make sure you either remove it completely or upgrade it to the latest version before attempting an upgrade to MovableType 4.2.
If, like me, you have a penchant towards installing plugins and then forgetting about them completely, you can end up in "navigation hell" post-upgrade. (I don't even own an iPhone!)
With the old version of the iPhone plugin still installed your upgrade will appear to have completed successfully, but you won't be able to access most of the navigation menus inside your new MT 4.2 Pro install.
The simplest fix is to remove the iMT directories inside both your plugins directory and your mt-static/plugins directory.
Once you've done this you can then actually make use of MT again!
Thanks to Beau for helping resolve this for me on a Sunday afternoon (even though he's currently in Japan and was on his way to bed!)
More on this on the MT forums
If, like me, you have a penchant towards installing plugins and then forgetting about them completely, you can end up in "navigation hell" post-upgrade. (I don't even own an iPhone!)
With the old version of the iPhone plugin still installed your upgrade will appear to have completed successfully, but you won't be able to access most of the navigation menus inside your new MT 4.2 Pro install.
The simplest fix is to remove the iMT directories inside both your plugins directory and your mt-static/plugins directory.
Once you've done this you can then actually make use of MT again!
Thanks to Beau for helping resolve this for me on a Sunday afternoon (even though he's currently in Japan and was on his way to bed!)
More on this on the MT forums
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Byrne has posted a nice little tutorial on creating dropdown navigation for MovableType.
I don't think I'll be implementing it as yet, as I really prefer to let designers design. My own attempts at design usually end in disaster!
I don't think I'll be implementing it as yet, as I really prefer to let designers design. My own attempts at design usually end in disaster!
Image via Wikipedia
Zemanta is a plugin for Firefox and Flock that helps you find links, tags, pictures and other content to help you with your blog articles.
I've been playing around with it for the last couple of days and have been very pleased with the results.
You'll notice the image on the right (Firefox usage stats over time) has been pulled in from a 3rd party site and the attribution added. All with a single click and no messing about.
The user interface is quite simple and intuitive and you can easily check an image's license without any hassle.
One of the minor annoyances with MovableType4's default settings is that the comment form does not display on single entry archives ie. if you are viewing an article / post you don't see that "welcoming" form.
Thanks to some help on the SixApart mailing lists the solution is quite easy !
Edit mt.js from within your MT install and comment out the line that includes the following:
hideDocumentElement('comments-form' );
It should be somewhere around line 129.
As it's Javascript the syntax would be to use double forward slashes on each line (//).
Once you've made the change simply republish or wait for your republish to run ( you did setup a cronjob, didn't you?) and you should now see the comment form !
Thanks to Anu for the tip!
Thanks to some help on the SixApart mailing lists the solution is quite easy !
Edit mt.js from within your MT install and comment out the line that includes the following:
hideDocumentElement('comments-form' );
It should be somewhere around line 129.
As it's Javascript the syntax would be to use double forward slashes on each line (//).
Once you've made the change simply republish or wait for your republish to run ( you did setup a cronjob, didn't you?) and you should now see the comment form !
Thanks to Anu for the tip!
Dan Wolfgang has released a new version of his file uploader plugin with support for MT4.
The plugin offers a wide range of functions that can increase productivity:
The plugin offers a wide range of functions that can increase productivity:
- Multiple file uploading and 1-click uploading put a focus on speed and efficiency
- Resize on Upload keeps all images sized appropriately
- Watermarking ensures all images have your branding
- Consistent formatting with HTML Wrappers and definable image attributes
- Easy photo gallery creation using Lightbox or EDSMT Photoblog templates
- Specify a default location on your server where files are uploaded
- Automatic thumbnail image sizing based on your settings
- Supports MT4’s Assets capabilities
Mark Carey has released yet another plugin for MT that brings AJAX powered comments to MT4
AJAX is one of those web 2.0 buzzwords that can be abused and overused, however if used correctly, such as in this instance, it can improve the end user's experience.
With AJAX based commenting the page does not refresh / reload.
To show you how it all works Mark has made a test install available for people to try out.
AJAX is one of those web 2.0 buzzwords that can be abused and overused, however if used correctly, such as in this instance, it can improve the end user's experience.
With AJAX based commenting the page does not refresh / reload.
To show you how it all works Mark has made a test install available for people to try out.
