The main reason this blog now runs Movable Type (MT) is because that software publishes static files. Unlike my other favourite blog platform, WordPress (WP), once MT publishes a file for an entry or a page to my website, it doesn't have to be running or have a functional database for the file to stay alive and be visible on the Web. That is, for my own somewhat obscure and nerdy reasons, important to me.
Now, I had tested Movable Type before choosing it to make sure it was really true: that the static files work if MT or the database it uses are disabled. But I hadn't tried again since I actually made the move a couple of weeks ago. Not until today.
You see, one of the disadvantages of Movable Type is that upgrading it is still rather a pain. It's stuck where WordPress was a few versions ago, where security patches, bug fixes, and version upgrades require replacing old files on your web server with new ones, restoring plugins and stuff from backups, and generally mucking around with files and permissions and database changes until everything works again. By contrast, WordPress has long had a plugin, and now built-in functionality, to upgrade with just a few clicks within the program itself. That's far better.
Today, Six Apart released a minor 5.02 upgrade for Movable Type, and I had to do the whole update rigamarole manually. That's fine, I'm nerdy and I can handle it. It only took about 20 minutes, including waiting for all the backups and new uploads to complete. I had to mess with some file permissions, but then everything went smoothly.
The one bonus is that, during the upgrade, I completely disabled Movable Type itself in order to replace its application files with the new ones. I couldn't log in, or manage entries, or moderate comments, or do anything while that was happening. But I checked, and my blog itself continued to work fine—although a few things like links to tags and trying to enter new comments obviously wouldn't work.
Once I had the new files in place, all the features returned, just as before. This gives me confidence that if, in future, I bork something up with my Movable Type installation, my blog can keep running while I try to fix it. By contrast, when I've done that with WordPress (which, without a hacky plugin, publishes live from its database all the time), the whole blog disappears until I repair the error.
More seriously, if my health declines and it looks like I might kick the bucket, I can lock down comments and a few other things, and my website can keep working without having to maintain or upgrade Movable Type or the database at all. For most people that's not much of a concern, but over time, for more and more of us it will be.
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For different reasons than yours, I think about my site continuing to work without me as well. After all, it's the largest body of my available work. I chose Wordpress, because I'm not nerdy. But I'd be interested in knowing how to perpetuate my writing in case I turn out not to be immortal:-) Dave Winer talks about this sometimes.
Francine, if you're using WordPress.com, that's a great choice, because they take care of the hosting for you, and are likely to be around for some time. Since I want to keep stuff on my own server, I was looking at the WordPress software from WordPress.org, which requires a lot more maintenance and hand-holding to keep things running smoothly.
Derek,
Do you have an opinion regarding MovableType.com versus MovableType.org, and versus Wordpress.com?
I currently have a domain name that I am not putting to any great use, beyond email, because I find the Google Apps platform to be very weak for websites. I'd like to create a site for my family, think "mini" ancestry.ca more than daily happenings. It would likely be dominated by postings of old photos and files, but I would like it to be interactive and welcoming for family members wherever they are located, so I need a blog element to it as well.
I'm not a developer and, although I can definitely pick stuff up, for the time being I just want something that works and that doesn't require to me to rely on standard themes. Any suggestions?
Jason, there isn't any real difference between MovableType.com and MovableType.org, since Movable Type only exists as software you install and manage yourself on your own server. (In contrast, WordPress.org is for installable software, while WordPress.com is a hosted system where you don't need to install anything. Confusing, I know.) But Six Apart, the company that makes Movable Type, has other options that are similar to WordPress.com.
However, "something that works" and "something that doesn't require me to rely on standard themes" can be a bit awkward, because most easy-to-use systems like WordPress.com, Blogger, and TypePad (Six Apart's hosted equivalent to those for Movable Type) don't give you quite as much control over the site design as a self-hosted system (i.e. one you install on your own server like mine here) does.
That said, you can get quite a lot done with what those services provide, and they're inexpensive. I haven't used TypePad at all (nor Movable Type's similar service, Vox), but there are a lot of templates available through WordPress.com and Blogger, and you can customize them quite a bit once you delve into how they work. If you're posting a lot of photos and files, however, you might start to run into limits on what those services permit without paid upgrades of some sort.
You might want to look at SquareSpace, which I've heard many good things about but also haven't tried. It's not all that cheap, but it's apparently quite robust and offers a lot of flexibility without requiring you to learn any code at all. Plus it has a lot of included modules for the sorts of things you're talking about doing (photo galleries etc.).
You can always try any or all of these options for free, and then see which one works best for what you want to do. But to pare it down, I suggest you give SquareSpace a shot, and perhaps compare it to WordPress.com, which will do many of the same things but at less cost.
Man, I was sort of all over the place there. Obviously, I'm not affiliated with any of these organizations!
Thanks Derek. I took a look at SquareSpace, which I had not heard about before, and it looks pretty reasonable. It has a fourteen day free trial period, so I will give it a try before investigating the other options.