Some MovableType Tips

Before Nanny Granny forced me to finish Saga Rose, I had been learning a bit more about Movable Type, the software that I use for this blog.

Since I have a background as a programmer and database developer, I know how annoying it can be when people ask questions about how to do something without trying to find the answers in the documentation or on forums first. Having been a non-programmer at one time, I also know how annoying it is when you don't know how to try to find answers! In an attempt to fix certain problems with the upgrade, I went a-searching, and figured out several things that I would like to have known for some time, and then felt reasonably informed enough to ask a couple of questions on the forums.

Now I tell myself, "Self, there are tons of people out there using Movable Type for their knitting blogs." And I answer, "yeah, so?" And I ask myself, "Self, why not give them the answers to the questions they may be asking but don't know how to go about finding the answers to?" And I agreed that it would be a good idea.

Here, then, is Madame Glitchbane's List of GAQs -- Glitchbane Asked Questions:

Q: What resources are there for helping me with Movable Type?
A: Quite a few, actually. Here are some:
-- The Movable Type Forums
-- Scriptygoddess
-- Tweezer's Edge
-- Knitting Notes (look in the "tips" category.
-- Learning Movable Type

Q: How do you put in links on your sidebar?
A: You must edit your Main Index template. Add a section that looks like this:

A2: Use Blogrolling It's free. You enter your links there, and it produces some code for you to put in your template that you never have to change, even if your links change.

Q: How do you make the links open in a seperate window?
A: Do you see the {target="_blank"} section of the code above? That does it.

Q: How do you get your list of blog links to say when one of them is updated?
A: Use Blogrolling. It does it for you if you set it up. Otherwise, learn all about RSS and stuff I don't have the time for right now!

Q: How do I make it so other link lists on other peoples' blogs know that my blog has been updated?
A: In your MT setup, be sure to enable "pinging". You'll see it in your preferences menu.

Q: How did you make a list of categorized archives?
A: With the help of David at Tweezer's Edge and the MT documentation I used the tags for categories as follows (put this in your Main Index template, within the sidebar section:

Q: Why do I sometimes get an error when posting comments?
A: The mySQL database that MT uses has a maximum number of connections. Sometimes that number is exceeded, especially if something goes wrong with your database or somebody else's database that is on the same server. The best thing to do is have your hosting provider stop and restart the mySQL Server. Sometimes they don't get to it right away.

Posted by Sheila at October 13, 2004 07:57 AM Posted to Movable Type | TrackBack