Wordpress

The Moveable Type Experiment

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Last week I had installed Moveable Type 4.1 community edition on my hosting account. This week I am uninstalling it. I liked the way it looked, and it was easy to use, but I ran into a fundamental issue with it. I cannot publish my content. I tried to import my content from Typepad to the new MT4 site I created to see how it looked before I decided if I was going to switch or not. The import worked fine, but I have not been able to publish the new content since I brought it into MT4. I don’t know if it is an issue with the server I am on at my hosting provider, an issue with the software, or some configuration issue I caused, but it just doesn’t work. I don’t think I configured anything wrong since everything works fine except for the publish. I see content going back to 2005, but the publish never completes. I have posts going back to 2003. That leads me to think the publish is just choking on the server it is on. That is a problem.

I only have a few more days to tinker with this before I don’t have free time anymore (new job starts Monday). I am going to give WordPress another try. At this point I think it is just easier to leave everything on Typepad and not worry about dealing with configurations. I like to try new stuff out, but for real world use the hosted service seems just easier.

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Trying Moveable Type 4

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I have been continuing to play around with blogging software on my web hosting account. I finally decided to no longer be lazy and try an install of Moveable Type. WordPress is was easy to install on my hosting account because my provider Site5 offers a simple install script that takes about 2 minutes to run. You need to know nothing about linux software installation. I on the other hand know a little (not much but a little) so I decided to stop procrastinating and try the personal edition of Moveable Type. I was surprised at how easy they did make the install from the last time I tried to do it. Of course that was 2 versions and several years ago.

The point is I was able to get the software installed with no major issues. So far it looks good. I am comparing Moveable Type with WordPress, and my currently hosted blog at Typepad. What I am noticing is that Typepad has allot more bells and whistles built in, vs either of the other platforms. For example, the widgets make life easy. Moveable Type & WordPress both have widgets but neither of them are as nice as what Typepad offers. That of course is only my opinion.

The verdict? Well it is probably too early to say, but besides the cost involved in hosting my blog with a service provider like Typepad on top of my normal mail and site hosting I think that Typepad is still better. The major sticking point I have right now is that I cannot use custom themes with the current package I have on Typepad. I don’t really want to pay the extra fee per year to get the ability to use custom theme’s, but I want to play around with them. I am leaning to just trying out the themes I want on the MT4 install I just did, and if I find one I really like I can always pay to upgrade Typepad.

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Blog Theme Change

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My previous theme on this blog has been around in some for or another for a few years. I have wanted to change it for some time but frankly I hadn’t found a better one to switch to. I had used a stock theme from Typepad for a while but the column for the blog content was too small even on a large monitor. Because of that I kept going back to my old custom blue theme. It at least had a flexible column setup so if you read the site on a larger window the columns would resize to fit accordingly. Well I finally found a new theme that I wanted to give a try. It isn’t as flexible as what i had but it doesn’t suck as much as the other ones i have tried. It also looks nice! It was this or try the radicle option of doing my blog over in WordPress on my regular hosted site account (that is still something i am pondering).

Hosting Changes Afoot

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It’s September, so that means hosting provider changes! I don’t know why but both my blog hosting service as well as my general website hosting provider were both setup in September. That means annual fee’s are around the corner, so if i want to make changes i have to do it soon. Well Typepad did have an issue about 2 years ago so I now renew in November for them, but my hosting provider Site5 renews in about a week. I need to decide if i want to renew with them for another year or make changes to my hosting services.

I would like to cut back the amount i am paying for web services so i am thinking about alternatives. I like Site5 but my needs have changed over time. I ended up not using their free setups of linux apps like WordPress. I used Gallery for a while but just recently messed up my config and didn’t really use it enough to warrant the expense. With a blog site like this one on Typepad, having another site is a bit redundant especially if i don’t ever update it. Typepad now offers the ability to setup regular pages on my blog so i might create a version of my regular site here. That means i only have to get an email provider and keep Typepad as my main web presence. I have also been thinking of buying Flickr Pro so i can use it like i was going to use the Gallery application. With the cost of the mail hosting, and Flickr Pro, vs regular hosting with Site5 i am saving a few bucks. I am getting less features, but I am getting better functions out of the features I am using, so I am planning my migration away from Site5. The only thing that takes a little thinking is how to move my mail to a new provider without loosing any mail. Fingers crossed.

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WordPress, Not For Me Yet

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I spent part of the day Sunday messing around with a WordPress install on my personal website. Yes I am paranoid so I keep this blog semi-annonimous and I also keep a regular website. It isn’t like someone could figure out who I am easily but in order to keep the powers that be (the people that pay me) from getting concerned about a blog I don’t mention last names, where I work, co-worker stories etc.

Since I do have a separate site to mess around with I tried to play with a stock WordPress install I got from my new hosting provider, Site5. I installed a bunch of cool plug-ins for the app. Unfortunately as of now, I have hit a major stumbling block that will prevent me from using WordPress to host my blog. The software does not support exporting blog entries in the out of the box configuration. You can get a plug in that will supposedly do this, but I have yet to get the plug into work properly. This is after editing the php file a bit. I got it to almost work, but I still get an error. For now I have given up.

If I get more time another day, maybe I will mess around with it some more, but I always feel if I can’t get something working pretty quick (for software such as this that means a few hours, but store bought stuff it is under an hour) I need to stop and move on.

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Spoke Too Soon

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So whenever I write about some service or piece of gear that I like or am content with I always jinx myself and end up finding some reason to get rid of it or change something right after I write about it. My post “2 Years on Typepad” is one of those times. Today while looking to solve one problem on the web, I stumbled across an application that I wanted to try on my website. In trying to figure out how to do the install I found a web host (actually several) that had this app pre-installed and ready to use. My current hosting provider is great, I wasn’t kidding about that, but they provide only basic site tools compared with some of these other providers. After doing some more research I have decided to sign up for an account with Site 5. It looks like they offer the same or more basic features as my current provider Media Temple, but they also package in tons (50+) pre-built packages that you can run that install open source apps to your account. I could probably install the same tools on Media Temple, but why should I if I can get the same stuff with the click of a button from Site 5? After I add up all the costs on Site 5 compared to my Media Temple account I will be paying the same amount. I signed up a little while ago, and I will use the 60 day free trial. Since I am very picky we will see if Site 5 does anything to piss me off or not.

One of the pre-built packages they offer is WordPress, so even this blog is not safe from me wanting to shake things up a bit.

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2 Years on Typepad

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Last week marked the second anniversary of me moving my blog to Typepad. Even after some bumpy spots, the service has been great. It is easy to use and offers allot. That is why I have been lazy and not just hosted my blog myself. It would only be slightly a pain for me to setup a Moveabletype or WordPress site on my Mac, or a linux box, but I just don’t want to deal with the effort of keeping the system up if I can pay and have it hosted properly. That is of course the same excuse why I host my mail and website now, instead of hosting my mail myself or have Miguel host it on his server with a ton of of other people I know.

New Server, Almost

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I took the plunge and forked overs some money to build a “decent” server to run my site on at home. I got a tiny desktop case CPU, RAM, & DVD drive for really cheap. I already had a drive for it. I built it today and I am now trying to put linux on it. I am going for Suse 9 Enterprise or Suse 9.3. Not sure what will end up on it just yet. I put Suse Enterprise 9 on before but had problems so I am trying it again.

Right now I am having media issues with both 9.0 and 9.3 so I am not happy. I am still very new to the Linux crazy so I am very frustrated.

Now that I am building this new machine I have a few decisions to make. Do I keep using Typepad, or host my own blog using Moveabletype or WordPress? I like Typepad, but I am not sure if I want to pay to host when my subscription is up when I am hosting my own server. I liked moveabletype as a program but it is a pain to setup. I proved that today with several attempts at configuring it right. I hear WordPress is good, and they “claim” to have a simple install process.

Not sure what I am going to do just yet. I just want to get Linux installed and working right now…