More on my move from MovableType to WordPress

My old Movable Type syndication feed is now working again, with the help of people from the IRC freenode #wordpress channel. Comments seem to be working as well, since Ralph of Makes me Ralph commented on my photo of oregano that I posted a few days ago.

It has been interesting watching the reactions to the new Movable Type (MT) licensing scheme. My decision to change weblog software was triggered by my web host deciding to no longer allow Movable Type. I like the stability and longetivity of my provider, and worried that changing providers would result in a much slower system. I also hated the idea that my new host might dissallow Movable Type at some point. However, I probably would have found a new provider, if I hadn’t read the MT 3.0 license (in its first incarnation) and decided that it was time to go with a GPL solution. When I first started using MT back in August 2003, I donated to the company and had a ball setting up a weblog for myself, my husband, and loading my site into MT and using it as a content management system.

I loved Movable Type, but I must be fickle: I love WordPress too. I like the fact that I no longer have to wait for long rebuilds of my database. I like the fact that I can change the underlying code legally. I like the user interface. I like how easy it was to install. I like the support on the forum and on IRC. Certainly, it has a few rough edges, and I would not recommend it for non-techies, but then I always thought that non-technies were better off with TypePad than Movable Type. I still feel that way.

Bleeding Heart

Bleeding heart

Today, I went to the annual Horticultural sale down by Colorado College. I only bought two phlox there, but admired this bleeding heart plant while I was looking around.

WordPress

It is almost looking like home again. WordPress has one nice feature, which I didn’t realize until I watched Jack pull up my site in his browser on his PC. If WordPress detects that you are a user with update capability for the particular weblog, it displays an “Edit this” link. I had a small edit link for my Movable Type weblog posts, but it desplayed to everyone.

Technical Difficulties

I moved to Lunarpages in August 2003 and bought a year’s worth of service because they supported Movable Type, the weblog software I was interested in using. A few months ago, they decided, without warning or notice, that they would no longer allow new Movable Type installations. They cited security and performance concerns, though without the sort of details that would actually allow these concerns to be addressed.

They stated that grandfathered MT installations would still be allowed, so I figured that I had until August to find another host. Yesterday, they, without warning, took away my access to the main script that runs my weblog. Needless to say, I am not pleased.

When I went to the Movable Type site to pull down the 3.0 release so I could at least run it on my desktop, I found that they have made drastic changes to the license. They have increased the price, and limited the number of authors and weblogs that can be used by an instance of an installation. Their product Movable Type was definitely in competition with their Typepad service, and the terms of the new license seem calculated to reduce its attraction as an alternative. I am now looking at WordPress, a GPL weblog platform. I practiced installing it on my desktop, then migrated it to my web host. It seems easier to install than Movable Type, but perhaps I am just a lot more practiced at installing web software now.

Cloudscape

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I saw these clouds on my Friday walk, but fortunately no snakes. Dudley tolerated staying on the lead for the complete walk better than I had expected.

Art Trading Cards

Some friends of mine from Denver had been trying to get me to go to the Denver Art Trading Card exchange for a while. It is held in LoDo (Lower Downtown Denver) on the second Saturday of the month. Last month I had family stuff planned and there was a snowstorm as well. This month, I was able to go, but didn’t have much time to work on cards. However, I did dig out some untraded ones from online exchanges, and made some new ones from old carvings. I was able to come up with 21 cards and traded every one. They all used handcarved images, usually with a commercial background stamp.

I saw one other person there with ATC’s using possibly handcarved images. There was a lot a variety: good prints from color printers, good color copies, cards with embellioshments, cards with commercial stamps, cards with embellishments, and collage cards. Most people had several different designs, so you could nearly always find something you liked to trade.

I plan to do this again, and will try to take double the number of cards, since I had to say “sorry, all traded out” more time than I can count.

Garden notes

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My oregano is flourishing. So is the dianthus, the columbines, and the other herbs. However, it looks as though only one of two cinqfoils survived, and two of five rose bushes. Must do a better job of mulching next year.