After trying to customize MovableType, I remembered a couple of things:
1. I hate Perl.
2. MT’s theme system is very hard to understand and customize.
I decided to go with WordPress. It also utilizes a MySQL backend with PHP on the front end. It’s slightly slower due to each page being dynamic. (My host isn’t too snappy.)
But it is extremely customizable and I can actually understand how it works enough to customize it to my satisfaction.
Etc, etc.
Anyway, I’m going to spend more time writing and less time redoing my website from now on.
Yours,
Clifton
#1 by Liz at June 11th, 2007
Besides — wordpress comes with a ton more themes
It rocks!
I used to use MT back in the day… but… I hate perl, too. And I gave up on the customizing. I don’t know WHO uses it anymore…
#2 by Anil at June 12th, 2007
Just curious — I work with the MT team and was wondering what you found confusing about the templating system. Were you trying to design your own template or use someone else’s?
#3 by clifgriffin at June 12th, 2007
That’s a fair question. Truthfully, you’ve caught me in a gross generalization. I’ve used versions of MT previously (going back to at least version 2) and I’ve never found the prospect of creating my own themes to be anything more than frusturating.
This is for two reasons:
1. I’m not that good at CSS.
2. I’m ordinarily trying to modify someone else’s theme.
In most cases, someone else has done a better job choosing fonts and column layouts. I’m just trying to put my personal touch on it or integrate it into my design for the rest of the site.
So, while MT’s CSS is comprehensive, it also has a steep learning curve. (To be good at it!) And in this case, I couldn’t find a template that excited me enough to warrant wading into those waters again.
If WordPress has an advantage, much of it is in the remarkable K2 theme that really is more of a presentation system than a theme. It’s very modular and I was able to understand the CSS and layout of each of the individual page files. (For instance, in K2, you can add custom “Text” widgets that will accept straight HTML. It took me 30 seconds to figure out how to integrate AdSense). It’s use of AJAX for searching and commenting is also very attractive.
The final advantage WordPress had for me is that it is dynamic. While this has slowed down my site due to my less than stellar host, it also cut down the time it takes for me to see changes. In MT you have to rebuild a page before you can see the effects of your change. In WordPress, you click save and then refresh.
MT is a good product. But ultimately I was more comfortable with the feature set of WordPress for the shortterm and longterm.
Does any of this make sense?
Clif