Things may be a little strange around here for a few days. I am upgrading Blogography to Movable Type 4.0, and it will take some time for all the templates and stuff to be transitioned to the new format.
The decision to upgrade something that ain't broken is always a difficult one, but I need to start learning the new system in anticipation of clients who ask me to work with it. I had thought about creating a test-blog, but ultimately decided to just forge ahead with this one. Your motivation for learning something new is considerably higher if you have something at stake...
Here's hoping that I don't totally f#@% things up, because I don't have a lot of time before I have to leave again.
Say a prayer to the blog gods, because here I go...
UPDATE: Okay... who didn't say their prayers! Things are so f#@%ed up that you'd swear I had planned this crap. Not only won't anything publish properly, but MT4 is balls-slow. As in agonizingly balls-slow.
UPDATE: Oh shit! Shiiiiiiiiiiiit!!
UPDATE: Hmmm... uhhh... comments are working again. Notifications are slow, slow, slow to arrive though... much like everything else.
UPDATE: I kinda think that everything is working properly now. I had hoped to upgrade my templates to use some of the new MT4 features, but Movable Type's weak link has reared its ugly head once again... crappy documentation. You look up a tag that you want to use, and are presented with the bare minimum of information. No examples. No external references. Nothing. I would attempt to dissect the default templates to see how things work, but when you upgrade an existing installation (even to a clean directory), the default templates go missing. Any attempt to add a new template and copy over the defaults manually is defeated by missing links and modules that I can't seem to locate. Maybe when I have more time, I'll try again... but holy crap! This is VERSION 4 and there's STILL no frakin' documentation!! WTF? What good are new features if nobody can find out how to use them? Movable Type could be the greatest application in the universe, and it wouldn't mean shit because without good docs, who is going to want to work with it?
I love comments! However, all comments are moderated, and won't appear until approved. Are you an abusive troll with nothing to contribute? Don't bother. Selling something? Don't bother. Spam linking? Don't bother.
PLEASE NOTE: My comment-spam protection requires JavaScript... if you have it turned off or are using a mobile device without JavaScript, commenting won't work. Sorry.
Atom Entries Feed Comments Feed
This is a test comment…
Well, that wasn’t so bad…
Uhhh… spoke too soon…
Blargh. Something still is not right.
Oops. Things are bad I take it? 🙁
Okay, okay! Prayers have been sent to the blog Gods.
Take a time out for a Coke with Lime and a pudding cup!
Can these same gods get me a job?
Glad to hear things are going so smoothly. 😮
Meanwhile all of your friends will soon post with kind offers to assist…
Oh, how I feel your pain. I’ve decided to stick with ExpressionEngine. My comfort level is just right. I force my clients to use it too.
They really don’t care- as long as it looks perty.
Good luck, Dave!
I got the memo to pray too late. I’ve started now. I hope it helps!
Well you COULD have experimented with my blog…just sayin! 😉
I said my prayers, I did! I made a sacrifice an everything – I finished the last of the ice cream in the freezer just for you.
I think I screwed up my MT installation, via upgrading, just before my last vacation. I’m going on vacation at the end of next week again … so, it must be time to upgrade.
I think I’ll wait to see how things go here.
Good luck.
I don’t suppose your webhost is running that new feature that compiles all your scripts? My host just rolled that out…supposed to be a lot faster page loads.
Eh, good luck. Wish I knew more about Movable Type so I could roll my sleeves up and give you a hand.
I feel ya, hon. Was just there in the HOLY HELL CAN I JUST GET MY DAMN BLOG TO WORK? mode not too long ago.
Keep testing. I’ll be here. But I’ll come back and often if you post Bad Monkey pictures. I heart the Bad Monkey. (Was that a song in the 80s?)
p.s. I did three Hail Marys while waiting for the page to load. My prayers should have covered you.
I’ve lit a candle for you and your blog troubles. I hope that helps.
for those of us who are still on movable type 1.1, we applaud your courage. you have blazed a trail for all of us!
Good luck, Dave2. As a former user of MT myself, I remember how it was upgrading. And yes, the lack of proper documentation was frustrating. Maybe if they weren’t so focused on acquiring/making new products, they could hire some people to do that!
I too shall eat the last of the ice cream in the event that it helps…
I wonder if the song you’re thinking of, Mocha, is Brass Monkey by the Beastie Boys?
Oh, no MT upgrading nightmares!
I really had hoped that this update would be less painful than the previous ones. So after reading your report I’m not even sure I want to go through this now :/
Do I understand correctly that I will actually need to fiddle with my templates to make the update work? Argh! What kind of ‘update’ is that.
But it didn’t screw up your database while upgrading, right?
Ack… No fun! Weirdly enough, I updated my WP to 2.2.2 tonight after avoiding it for months. It took a total (with download/upload) of 1.5 minutes. The only thing not working is my Flickr albums (woo… no biggie!) Sorry to hear your upgrade process was much more annoying.
Hey, wanted to let you know about a very cool contest I’ve got going on at my blog! (Main reason for my upgrading things):
“Super Deluxe 10 Year Bloggoversary Contest” –
WIN A Nintendo Wii!
Help me celebrate my *10 YEARS OF BLOGGING*!!
I totally went to church today for you and your blog. And it was also a Holy Day of Obligation. But mostly for you and your blog.
I did a clean install and, after entering my SQL info, MT4 upgraded the database with no issues at all. It was fairly quick and painless, to be honest.
After that, I re-installed my plug-ins into the new location and was done!
Except that publishing comments or entry changes would not update my static pages (just the database). Eventually, I tracked the problem down to conditional statement that generated no errors, but still caused problems. Once this was modified, things started working again, and I deleted MT3.3.
I then made the mistake of trying to re-write my templates, which was a disaster. Documentation is desperately needed. 🙁
I gave it a try and I appreciate that MT now lets me install to a different folder (ie leaving an easy way to keep my old installation intact).
Initial setup of the database went just fine but when trying to upgrade it I got an error message with some strange linuxy perl paths and cp1252 encoding (which I don’t use, at least not to my knowledge).
I filed a report on this with MT. Let’s hope it’s a solvable problem. I’m really not keen on dealing with the innards or perl or some databases…
I’m sticking to Blogger so I can blame Google when three years of my life completely vanish.
MT still ain’t won me over.
Never used MT, but have always admired your blog’s style, features and, oh, what was it, oh yeah, CONTENT! I’d switch from WP if it made me write better.
Need to do that 2.2.2 upgrade tho… but I’m a technogeek who works with the back-end stuff all the time so most problems are dealt with sans docs anyway.
Whew… it’s working now.
Amen, brother. I did the same thing yesterday. Still not sure how all the cool, new things work. I only hate MT when I’m upgrading. I’m cool with it the rest of the time.
Hmm makes me love my canned template – no work, no responsibility. Of course, yours is much cooler. 😉
Balls-slow? Is it really balls-slow? Because if it is balls-slow, then obviously it sucks, because balls-slow, sucks. And nobody wants anything that is balls-slow…
Ya know, just had to try out such a swishy little phrase a few times.
So, it’s a totally smooth transition, eh?
Looks good from here. I will stick with WP though. 🙂
Switched from MT2 to WP years ago and never regretted the decision. Every time MT comes out with a new version I go check it out to see if it’s very compelling, and usually it isn’t… I’m almost as in love with WordPress as you are with Macs. Now, if I’d just update my blog once in a while. 😉
Dave:
I’m sure glad you packed the Mega Roll! It sounds really messy over there. Thanks for the courtesy flush and I hope you get a clean break soon!
The MT4 default templates can be found here. Mind you, even finding that page was a monumental pain in the arse and I only accidentally stumbled across it.
The default templates are included in the install files… the problem is finding the files they link to.
I finally solved the problem by creating a NEW blog, then finding the files the new blog uses. Crazy, but it works! 🙂
Now if only they’d come with a “subscribe to comments” feature, all would be right in the world.
I love WordPress. I’ve never had the problems with it that I did with MT. Plus my host has the one-click installs and upgrades so I can stay as ignorant as I want to be as to how to get it to work. 🙂