TypePad

April 24, 2003 12:34 PM

MovableType,, the blogging software of choice (well, for a lot of us), have launched a new user-friendly service on their own servers, called TypePad (here's the press release). Is this a first direct hit at Blogger, a service they have denied gunning for, in light of Google's move? Will it work? My vote: Hell yes. MovableType have not put a foot wrong yet, and now they've got Anil Dash on board, the lucky tyke...
posted by wibbler (29 comments total)

TypePad sounds positively badass.

The major beef I always hear from Blogger users (and remember myself from before I switched to MT) is that the server's down so often, they can never update when they want to. Certainly people will think of switching for exactly this reason. What sort of stability can the Trott's promise for TypePad?

And, um, I think the name is dumb.
posted by katieinshoes at 12:48 PM on April 24, 2003

uh... so what does it do?
posted by lotsofno at 12:50 PM on April 24, 2003

Try clicking the link and maybe reading the first paragraph on the page.
posted by Su at 12:55 PM on April 24, 2003

"We will no longer be reliant on geeks for top quality weblog reading."

So many things wrong with that sentence from the Guardian. ";)"

I hope TypePad will be as equally fabulously democratic at putting freaks on the web as Blogger always has been.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 12:55 PM on April 24, 2003

I'm sure you mean freaks in the best sense of the word, RJ ...
posted by answergrape at 1:08 PM on April 24, 2003

I hope TypePad will be as equally fabulously democratic at putting freaks on the web as Blogger always has been.

Well, I'd say, depending on the implementation, possibly moreso. Noting the Guardian quote you cited, I always felt the "entry barrier" for Blogger was a little too high for the proverbial grandma to get into the act.

If TypePad (though I agree with katieinshoes about the name) can offer the power and functionality of Movable Type, but the Mickey Mouse, quick-start ease of, say, Diaryland, then they're definitely looking at a winner.

But Blogger may very well remain the front runner, given the (1.) intuitive service and domain name -- which matters a lot, IMHO -- and (2.) that little company behind it named Google.
posted by pzarquon at 1:15 PM on April 24, 2003

"Try clicking the link and maybe reading the first paragraph on the page."

i had read it, but all the page did was seem to vaguely hint at a server with mt preinstalled... i was assuming that there had to be much more to it than that.
posted by lotsofno at 1:32 PM on April 24, 2003

If they would just make Movable Type itself a bit easier to install, I would be happy. I'm a geek, but not a UNIX geek. One look at their installation documentation sent me back to manual editing and FTP for my site until I can figure it all out. But I did sign up for the TypePad newsletter so I can see what they're offering.
posted by SealWyf at 1:34 PM on April 24, 2003

So, if I might derail the thread: What do Mefites see as the relative advantages of MT vs. Blogger (vs., for that matter, any other option) when it comes to actually running a blog? I'm asking because I've been toying with the idea of starting one, and am wondering why those that have chosen one over the other did so.

Links offsire to others' opinions are also welcome, of course.
posted by blueshammer at 1:35 PM on April 24, 2003

I hope TypePad will be as equally fabulously democratic at putting freaks on the web as Blogger always has been.

Oh great. More "bloggers":

April 20: I feel sick today.
April 21: My referer logs are awesome.
April 23: Sorry I haven't posted lately.
April 24: War is bad.
posted by drinkcoffee at 1:41 PM on April 24, 2003

drinkcoffee: priceless front page image.
posted by turbodog at 1:53 PM on April 24, 2003

Blueshammer: We've yet to see what interface TypePad might have, and how intuitive it may be, but generally I would say that a majority of MT users started on Blogger, then the technical knowhow caught up and they moved onto MT. Blogger has an easy and intuitive way about it, but was plagued by server performance and outages. Now that google have rocked up, those problems may be gone. MT came at a point where Blogger users (or bloggers on other systems) were looking for an inhouse solution. MT have, in my opion, never put a foot wrong - good support on their site, great implementation, great features. the only downsie is a basic knowledge of unix is needed, and your own server to plonk it on. If you have those, MT is the only choice as far as I'm concerned.
posted by wibbler at 1:58 PM on April 24, 2003

As an addition to my previous query: What about other free content management systems that let you "do more" than blog? I'm going to leave that "more" intentionally vague, because I'm interested in opinions on all sorts of options.

Also: I of course meant "offsite" in the previous post.
posted by blueshammer at 1:58 PM on April 24, 2003

What do Mefites see as the relative advantages of MT vs. Blogger (vs., for that matter, any other option) when it comes to actually running a blog?

I'm an adherent of the bl|php|pybl|osxom school (the Tao of *osxom). I like seeing my entries in my file system.
posted by timeistight at 2:10 PM on April 24, 2003

What do Mefites see as the relative advantages of MT vs. Blogger

What I like about moveable type is that I control it. I install it on my webhost and I am responsible for it. Aside from blogger's server woes I was always nervous about the possibility that they might just pack it up one day.
posted by srboisvert at 2:15 PM on April 24, 2003

Will they have an easy way to transfer archives from Blogger to TypePad? If so, then there may be a mass exodus. Blogger's servers have been fine lately, even before Google bought them it had been a while since I'd had a hiccup.
posted by Ufez Jones at 2:18 PM on April 24, 2003

I was always nervous about the possibility that they might just pack it up one day

I've been writing copy for Ev for years now.
posted by rocketman at 2:22 PM on April 24, 2003

I say we all chip in and get miguel his own typepad weblog.
posted by crunchland at 2:43 PM on April 24, 2003

I say we all chip in and get miguel his own typepad weblog.

I'm in for 10 bucks.

ANYhoo: MT's real advantage is better archive and information management. You can basically stick past writings anyhow and anywhere, quite easily, while Blogger sticks it in a weekly or monthly file that you can't remain. Well, you could, but you'd have to write a script. MT is rather brilliantly designed in that way, and I really do love it. That being said, I too am handcoding a new weblog site after trying and failing to install MT twice.

What a bunch of us in the middle of the techno-skill range want is this: not something remote-hosted like Type Pad or Blogger, but something we can download, expand, and FTP in one swell foop. If anyone can overcome those issues, they'll rule.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 3:04 PM on April 24, 2003

MetaTalk
posted by kirkaracha at 3:47 PM on April 24, 2003

Ufez: if it's anything like importing into MT, it's damn near painless.
posted by adampsyche at 4:01 PM on April 24, 2003

I didn't find MovableType that difficult to install. It certainly wasn't as difficult as rolling my own would seem to be. You don't even need to really understand *nix. You make a couple of changes to a text file (you don't even really need to know that it's a perl file), and you ftp some stuff into a couple of directories on your web server, and you may need to chmod a few files, but the instructions walk you through that in steps even my mom could sort of figure out.

The templating can get a little confusing, but you don't need to mess with that unless you want to mess with that.

What in particular got you tied up RJ?
posted by willnot at 4:12 PM on April 24, 2003

MT's great. I've had few problems with it (more problems with my server), and the support forums are insanely great. It's seriously a race for some of the people to see how quickly they can answer your question. It's got enough of a community behind it that there are tons of plugins to make it even more user friendly, and it's encompassing enough that it can be used as a full content management system. (The Trotts designed urbanschool.org all in MT, and teachers use movabletype to update the site).
posted by gramcracker at 4:31 PM on April 24, 2003

Anything to improve and popularize this great tool called Movable Type is valid. They've built a REAL tool, a REAL support forum and a REAL community that exchanges information, build lots of great plugins and create the blog's avant garde. Good luck to the Troot family (with Dash now onboard).
posted by nandop at 7:06 PM on April 24, 2003

Ufez: if it's anything like importing into MT, it's damn near painless.

I know that, but that's all hosted by the personal bloggers. I wonder if the Trott's are willing to host the sudden surge in archives that they'll (likely) get, especially that easily. If there is a big exodus, then they may run into problems that they hadn't anticipated, Japanese investors or not.
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:32 PM on April 24, 2003

I'm sure they'll be happy to host the archives, because you'll be paying them to do it.

I've been using MovableType for some time now for my sites, and absolutely love it. When I moved servers, I was worried about moving it, but I was surprised by how easy it moved over. Overall, its a very impressive piece of software, and that can only mean good things for TypePad.
posted by benjh at 5:04 AM on April 25, 2003

my biggest question is:

how will this affect the release of movable type pro? I'm all for a nice hosted version, but I'm happily running my own install, and when I saw ben and mena speak a while back they said MT pro would be out in the fall - I'm just hoping this doesn't push that release date back. I want my galleries, nested categories, and all those other new features!
posted by chrisege at 7:30 AM on April 25, 2003

MT Pro's still on schedule, which is one of the nice benefits of having a service and a software system built with a common base. We all use MT for our personal sites right now, too, so we want those features as much as you do, don't worry.
posted by anildash at 12:17 PM on April 25, 2003

(So is that Anil the weblogger or Anil the SixApart Bizdev employee speaking? Are they different? And does it matter?)
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 7:04 PM on April 26, 2003