Movable Type 3.0 Bible Desktop Edition (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The World Wide Web is a dynamic medium, but you wouldn't know it from looking at millions of Web sites..." (more)
Key Phrases: trackback pings, local archive path, local site path, Desktop Edition, Six Apart, Creative Commons (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

If Movable Type can do it, you can do it too

By its very nature, the Web encourages change at a frenetic pace. Movable Type helps you manage that pace, and this is your indispensable guide to installing and using the most popular server-based personal publishing tool. From exploring Movable Type's template-driven publishing system to developing your own plug-ins, here's what you need to know to create and maintain sites as adaptable as the Web itself.

Inside, you'll find what you need to know about Movable Type
* Prepare your Web server and install Movable Type
* Set up and configure a weblog, using archives and categories to create a more sophisticated site
* Add visual elements with photos and graphics
* Design a weblog with templates and use template tags
* Establish communication among sites using trackback pings
* Add search capabilities and import content from other blogs
* Develop Perl-based plug-ins to enhance Movable Type
* Configure Movable Type to receive and manage comments from site visitors
* See what's new in Movable Type 3.1 in a bonus Movable Type 3.1 appendix

From the Back Cover

If Movable Type can do it, you can do it too

By its very nature, the Web encourages change at a frenetic pace. Movable Type helps you manage that pace, and this is your indispensable guide to installing and using the most popular server-based personal publishing tool. From exploring Movable Type's template-driven publishing system to developing your own plug-ins, here's what you need to know to create and maintain sites as adaptable as the Web itself.

Inside, you'll find what you need to know about Movable Type

• Prepare your Web server and install Movable Type
• Set up and configure a weblog, using archives and categories to create a more sophisticated site
• Add visual elements with photos and graphics
• Design a weblog with templates and use template tags
• Establish communication among sites using trackback pings
• Add search capabilities and import content from other blogs
• Develop Perl-based plug-ins to enhance Movable Type
• Configure Movable Type to receive and manage comments from site visitors
• See what's new in Movable Type 3.1 in a bonus Movable Type 3.1 appendix

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; Desk edition (November 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764573888
• ISBN-13: 978-0764573880
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #988,872 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful but becoming outdated, January 4, 2006

By	a reader (Western Washington) - See all my reviews

This book is great for experienced and curious users. It's quite technical for lay users and the way information is presented isn't terribly user-oriented.

But the biggest problem is that Six Apart has updated Movable Type in ways that make this book obsolete in some aspects and that make it necessary to translate concepts in others. At this point, it's probably not worth the trouble to buy the book, and also probably not worth the trouble to write this kind of book when updates are so extensive and frequent.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In-depth and practical, November 20, 2004

By	Jack D. Herrington "engineer and author" (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Anyone who uses Movable Type on a regular basis needed the book. It covers all of the basics around installation, setting up blogs and writing entries. But then it goes into more advanced topics like alternating the template and adding plugins. And even more advanced topics like RSS, Atom, and writing your own plugins. This is thorough book that is well written and will cover everything you need to know to blog with Movable Type.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This book is difficult, March 18, 2005

By	Indy Blues (Indianapolis, IN) - See all my reviews

Unless you already have solid experience writing software, you will find this book overwhelming. But it is better than the program documentation. There are few other choices. It looks like it was rushed to press and many of the examples don't quite work on my provider's server configuration, e.g., I don't have access to the unix command line so isn't always easy to envision the file structures. (If you didn't understand the last line, you might consider paying the folks at Movable Type to build your blog.)

But in all fairness, this is a difficult subject to explain. Since personal blogging is so new on the scene, it seems like the blog jargon is still a little fuzzy. Liberal use of Google helps. Since many of the concepts in blogging software are new to me, I would have appreciated a clearer explaination in the introduction, perhaps with some graphic illustrations. Some of the topics here, "Publishing with Movable Type" for example, are filled with examples and terminology that belong in a later section of the book. It would suffice to just give the reader a broader overview of how the software works.