For a couple of days now, I've been carefully considering the pros and cons of using WordPress and Movable Type, respectively. Before even considering leaving Movable Type for another product, I certainly want to know what it is I'm leaving, and thus upgrading to MT 3.0 was absolutely necessary. I only have one weblog, and only one author, so the free version (as in free beer) did just fine, for now.
As far as features go, I don't really feel like I'm missing any feature using Movable Type. For some people, the page rebuilding is an unwanted feature that gets in their way, but for me it's quite the opposite; I was able to upgrade to MT 3.0, and enable TypeKey (which was a bit of a cumbersome procedure since the new Template Tags are undocumented as of yet), running into several problems, fine tuning it, replacing JavaScript code with PHP code for instance, without anybody even noticing that I, for at least two hours, was in the process of upgrading. Why? Because MT generates static pages. To me, that's a feature.
So, as far as features go, the fact that WordPress fries pages, instead of baking them like Movable Type does, is not something I'm interesting in. Quite the opposite, in fact. If I am to switch to WordPress in the future, it will absolutely have to be able to produce static pages. But I hear that's in the pipeline, so it seems that's not a problem.
One aspect about WordPress that does compell me though, is the fact that it's built using a language I'm exhaustively experienced with: PHP. On the other hand, it seems like it's written procedurally (judging from the "Template" code), as opposed to in an object oriented fashion. Not so good. Movable Type is written in Perl, which I have quite shallow experience with, not nearly enough to be able to extend MT in any useful way.
That's about it, really, that's all I can think of that separates WordPress from Movable Type. Oh yeah, there's the hole free/Free issue, how could I forget? It would be "nice" if MT too was Free, as in speech, but it doesn't bother me enough for me to abandon it, it's Free enough for me.
For the purpose of trying the product out, I downloaded the free version, and its restrictions are really ok by me. But, I'll probably get the Personal Edition later, which will cost me $69.95, or $99.95 if the introductory offer has expired by then. I'm not greedy, and considering the fact that I use Movable Type on a daily basis, I reckon it's a fair price.
Ironically, the one thing that I feel that MT 3.0 is really missing right now, that WordPress has, is a comment spam prevention system such as MT-Blacklist (there's WP-Blacklist for WP, but MT-Blacklist doesn't work with MT 3.0), but I suspect it won't be long until there is one for MT 3.0, too.
As you've probably figured out by now, I'm sticking with Movable Type 3.0, for the time being at least. WordPress does seem to be a very nice piece of publishing software, but it's not really that different from Movable Type, not different enough to justify switching, at least.
I'd like to do some more fine tuning, such as provide links to the TypeKey profiles of commenters who use that service, but I guess I'll have to wait until the MT documentation catches up with me. I'd also like to be able to automatically turn on comments moderation on posts older than, say, thirty days. That might even be a good enough reason for me to learn Perl properly.
Comments
I was impressed by the WP install procedures, compared with MT. It was so fast and simple. That said, WP seems quite immature although it looks like it's gaining quite a lot of momentum with the whole MT 3.0 issue. Give it a while and it will be a viable solution. But as for know I believe it's still a baby.
Comment by cyberhill at 03:28, 19 May, 2004 #
Well, I think in the end it's all about choice and taste. I personally use both WP and MT. I use WP for my blog since I like to tweak with the PHP, but for site management, I will use MT to get pages up quickly. Perhaps this is what we need, a varied toolbox of information generators to cater to the habits of the many different bloggers out there.
Comment by Dave at 02:42, 20 May, 2004 #
I had given some thoughts to moving from MT as well. As you mentioned, the static pages are the real definitive issue for me, too. The ability to test and roll out new plugins or layouts while maintaining the static pages is really great.
Regarding Blacklist, I understand the logic behind the MT transition is that TypeKey is intended to keep the riff-raff to a minimum. If enough people report a TypeKey commentor, then they lose there ability to post commnets. (I think that's how it works.) It's not as immediate as Blacklist, but it should have an impact. Combine that with built in comment-moderation and I think blog spam is so five minutes ago.
Comment by Kevin at 21:33, 21 May, 2004 #
I'm fairly sure you'd have heard of this by now, but this is a good almost-done book with which you can learn perl.
It assumes you already know how to program, but you clearly do:
Learning Perl the Hard Way
--P.S. When Previewing a comment, the commenter info (name, email, site) is dropped each time. That's annoying. :)
Comment by Jeremy Dunck at 00:45, 22 May, 2004 #
It's written in php, does, as you said, almost everything mt does, and is opensource and free.
And you don't want to change.
Which is fine, but your taking a chance on the future which could come back to bite you.
You actually made a great case for moving to wordpress, except, like breaking up with an ex its not an easy thing to do. The heart gets in the way of the head.
Combine that with built in comment-moderation and I think blog spam is so five minutes ago.
Too bad we can't place a bet on that kevin. Spammers are already getting past typekey, and they haven't even had to 'try' anything different yet.
Typekey is like plugging the dam with your finger.
Comment by thomas at 14:03, 22 May, 2004 #
"You actually made a great case for moving to wordpress"
What? They're about equal, why would I want to switch from Movable Type, which I'm very satisfied with, to WordPress, which is about equal except it currently lacks one crucial feature? What makes that such a great case?
And how will my choice of sticking with MT somehow be able to "come back and bite me"? If MT 4.0 is super expensive, I'll just switch then, instead of switching now based on silly assumptions about the future.
How can my choice possibly "bite" me in the future?
Smells like religious reasoning to me...
In order for me to switch from Movable Type, which I'm very satisfied with, the alternative will have to actually be better, which it is not...
Comment by T. Jogin at 14:09, 22 May, 2004 #
I personally, find Movable Type rather annoying with the rebuilds. I keep coming back to figure out what's so great about it, but my heart keeps failing on it. You're right, though. It seems like a religious thing. I've been a supporter of b2, and until it evolved to wordpress, I just stopped upgrading for some reasons, I dislike the UI and I'm quite lazy to tweak it and study how the wordpress works as it quite differ a bit from b2.
Comment by A.C. Adair at 17:47, 24 May, 2004 #
All I have to say is TextPattern.
Comment by Matthew Kelley at 19:37, 24 May, 2004 #
Heh, it's almost like Windows vs OS X vs AmigaOS in here :)
Comment by Michael Heilemann at 14:09, 25 May, 2004 #
Thanks for your great comparision between MT and WordPress as I am needing to upgrade from GreyMatter. I like static entries and did not realize that WordPress did not offer them. I will have to think more cafrefully about using WordPress based on this now.
Comment by Gary at 15:18, 27 May, 2004 #
The discussion has been closed on this entry. Thanks to everybody who participated.