masuga.com

My wife wants a blog, so I started looking into blogging systems to see what she might use. She just wanted an easy to use, simple system, so I foolishly looked into installing Movable Type for her.

I’m using MT on my site, and although it is easy to use, all the CGI files I find a little creepy. Not to mention the fact that I installed 2.661 for myself only a few weeks ago, and had no trouble finding the download link for it. Now, they’ve released 3.0 and I had to go through the whole rigamarole of signing up for something I don’t really care about (TypeKey) just to download the files.

Anyway, I did that, downloaded the files and tried to install them, referencing my own mySQL db - the one where my posts are already stored. I found that this was no easy task, as I couldn’t control what prefix MT added to the table names. Because the mt_authors table already existed, the install coud not continue. I decided to Google the issue “‘movable type’ change table prefix” and came across WordPress - done entirely in PHP, completely open-source, no file rebuilding, a breeze to install, and allows for the creation of many, many different blogs because you can change the table prefixes. Exactly what I was looking for. If you are looking to establish a blog, or are tired of MT, I suggest you have a look at this software.

I am so impressed with it I am considering removing the MT from my site, and running my site with WordPress. The problem with that switch is that MT allows me to have ColdFusion extensions (.cfm) on my pages - this is the web language I am most familiar with. Using WordPress, my pages would have to be PHP pages - meaning any ColdFusion code would have to be re-written in PHP. I am feeling the pull of PHP more and more every day. Because it’s free and widely used, many people are writing the coolest things with it. Things I cannot find an equivalent for (at least, cannot find very easily without paying for them…)in ColdFusion. Things like Shaun Inman’s Shortstat. Things like WordPress. Things that are free, cool, and useful. This site might get a PHP overhaul - at least on the main page - in the near future. And maybe I can do something with that tan area at the top of the page!

This entry was posted 4 years, 5 months ago on Wednesday, June 23rd, 2004 at 11:51 pm and is filed under General. Obligatory RSS 2.0 feed for these comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.