Question for MT to WP converts (or those thinking about it)
There were so many hacks/plugins etc, that were created or mentioned on this site specifically for MT. To those of you who have converted, or who are thinking of converting - what plugin/hack/thing-a-ma-jig did you used to have for MT that you wish you could have now.
I think there is very little (if anything at all?!) that I did in MT that couldn't be done as easily (if not EASIER!!) in WordPress. So, while I can't say I'll promise to get to everything right away, I'd like to re-create as many tutorials as possible for WordPress.
Leave a comment and let me know what you'd like to see. (Even better if you give the specific link to the older tutorial)
June 8th, 2004 at 1:42 am
I always liked the look of the Anazon plugin for MT but only discovered it after I'd made the switch.
June 8th, 2004 at 2:50 am
one thing I miss is the popup code auto-created for thumbnails. i have made do with a wp-gallery hack (http://www.blindmuse.com/archive/2004/02/26/wp-gallery/) since I keep a Gallery, but i'm sure there are folks who would like the popup image thing integrated like MT had it.
June 8th, 2004 at 5:58 am
—A way to make a photoblog in wordpress. The way I did it in Movabletype is to use the different fields to store the title, the url of the picture, and the entry_info. I can do the same about wordpress, but I was thinking about how to save the pictures - in Movabletype I would save them like: category1/pic1.jpg, and the html files would be category1/something.html
–Now I still haven't figured out how to make wordpress display some-url/category1/something.html… also if I make a directory called category1 and save the pictures there, will the mod_rewrite rules interfere?
i.e the the html files are generated on the fly by mod_rewrite doing some sort of black magic, so when I link to a picture, will mod_rewrite also mangle that url? a bit puzzled..
I understand that %category% tags are coming in a future release - I hope it's soon.
— Another important functionality that I need is a easier way to manage authors - once there is a multiple blog setup, then there also needs to be a way to give authors permisisons to access diff. blogs - (again like MT does it!).
June 8th, 2004 at 6:44 am
I miss having the sticky post ability.
June 8th, 2004 at 6:45 am
Oh, and a plug-in for my Netflix queue. You can find that here:
http://www.ofhills.com/archives/2003_09_24.php
June 8th, 2004 at 6:50 am
Hehehe… uhm… while these are great ideas for improving wordpress (and I think there's a thread on either the support forum or the wiki itself for just these types of suggestions) - I was actually referring to a script you saw on *this* site (that was previously written for MT)
But If I do end up with some time to burn, I could look at working on one of these (if someone hasn't already).
June 8th, 2004 at 7:16 am
Yeah, I have asked about both of those things on the WP boards and they haven't ever been answered or developed. So, when I saw this post, I decided to give you a shot at it.
*LOL* Isn't that nice of me?
June 8th, 2004 at 7:26 am
That's okay. Like I said, if I do end up with time to burn, I can try to work on one of those… I only suggested a script already on this site because it would probably be a quick/easy thing to migrate the script to use WP instead of MT (especially since I already know the ins and outs of 99% of the ones here) - I just didn't know which scripts were the most "popular" (aside from drop down "more" posts and comments - which is now done)
June 8th, 2004 at 9:59 am
Well, the show/hide javascript was really usefull, but I think you've already ported it.
The most usefull thing was your writeups on how to accomplish things in MT - not addons, but things already there which were hard to comprehend. For example, I've still not figured out how to have different category pages styled differently, or even how to style category pages different from individual pages.
I know one can put in all the code into a template with conditionals, but it would be nice to have different templates also.
June 8th, 2004 at 10:02 am
I think the most pressing need for wordpress is documentation - the wiki is a great start, but needs more volunteers. The forums really need to be revamped though - they are a mess.
June 8th, 2004 at 10:04 am
There is a plugin/hack for sticky post, I thought. Check the WP Wiki. Also there is an Amazon Media Manager that I use to maintain my book list.
June 8th, 2004 at 10:45 am
I would love to see the Lazyman smilies hack. I can currently get it to work from the control panel itself (quicktags.php for the popup code and edit-form.php to call the palette). The only thing I had to dig for was the names to $commentsformname and $commentstextname. However, I can not get it work from the wp-comments.php or wp-comments-popup.php. I've tried all sorts of combinations of form names and text names and I still can not get it to work.
June 8th, 2004 at 11:05 am
Now THAT I can do!
However, it will require a change to WP core code - specifically the kses.php include file which is the one that restricts what code will display in your comments… Currently, it strips img tags. (Could this be the reason why it's not working for you? ie. It pastes the code in the Your Comment field - but it's not publishing it because it's getting stripped out?)
June 8th, 2004 at 12:27 pm
I'd like to see a comment system much like the one you had on the old scriptygoddess (with the required number images before a post would go through). Is that possible in WP?
June 8th, 2004 at 12:51 pm
Jason - you're talking about the CAPTCHA thing - and actually after having used it previously, I am not a big fan of it for many reasons.
1) It STILL didn't keep SPAM from coming in! (There was an easy way around it)
2) Obvious accessibility issues…
3) It "punishes" the "good" commenters while (hopefully) keeping the bad out.
I just don't like that philosophy.
SO FAR - the built in WP Blacklist has worked fine. (I have a very comprehensive blacklist - which I need to make public - on the todo list)
Personally - I would sooner handle the problem with an "optional" user registration of sorts. I have an idea floating around - I've passed it on to a few people - but no one has seemed to pick it up. It may be something I'll need to create myself.
The idea was to have all comments go into moderation - unless they were from a "pre-approved" commenter. To become a "pre-approved" commenter - the author of the blog needs to indicate that any comments coming from your name/email/url combination be allowed to go through automatically.
Obviously, there is still a way around this as well - but it will be more difficult and time consuming for the spammer to figure out WHO is pre-approved and who isn't. As well - since email addresses are never displayed - they would have to guess at what the email could possibly be…
I would probably sooner flesh that idea out than implement the CAPTCHA again. I HATED having to fill that field out everytime (and it's my own blog!) LOL!
June 8th, 2004 at 1:57 pm
I found one of your how to's that someone on the wordpress board wants to know how to do. Its the How to's: Creating a Sideblog in MT.
Sorry I don't have the url for the thread on the board.
June 8th, 2004 at 2:14 pm
I might wait to do that one until multiple blogs becomes available. Otherwise It would require another installation of WordPress… unless that isn't a big deal to anyone…
June 8th, 2004 at 4:19 pm
i was going to mention the need for a plug-in for a notification list… but then i found this by going through the WP forums - http://www.gudlyf.com/index.php?p=357
i'm sure other people might be looking for something similar plus i'd like to get your spin on it, Jenn. =)
June 10th, 2004 at 12:23 am
I wanted a weather plugin. So I wrote one. Trying that in Perl would've made me infertile.
June 10th, 2004 at 2:56 pm
the BookQueue plugin. Definitely.
June 10th, 2004 at 3:26 pm
Initial findings while researching WordPress as alternative to Movable Type
June 10th, 2004 at 3:46 pm
Yeah, I miss the "Popup" photo thing from MT, and I know you didn't write it, but you used to have the "code validator" for comments — while perhaps not necessary for WP, it would be something I'd love to incorporate.
June 10th, 2004 at 4:51 pm
I might switch to Wordpress. One reason in particular: an annoying bug in this MT release that has not been…
June 11th, 2004 at 11:43 am
Sorry, Jennifer.
BookQueue is a MT plugin: official page.
June 11th, 2004 at 2:59 pm
I just came across this hack that will allow you to use WP's upload feature to upload and image and create a thumbnail, then using the quicktags in the post window, add that image to your post as thumbnail linked to a popup of the full sized image. Jen could you possibly look at this and turn it into a plugin or will it have to stay as a hack? Maybe you could talk to the author and wp developers about including it or something similar in the next release.
June 12th, 2004 at 12:31 am
Heh. I'm reading this and wondering if that hack I wrote might be of any use.
It was just something I crunched out to meet my personal need. I'd really like to see someone make it better, myself. If anyone wanted to turn it into a plugin, go right ahead.
Back to the original question, the only thing I was missing when I moved from MT to WP was the javascript thing to expand expanded entries. Looks like that's already available, though.
June 12th, 2004 at 1:24 am
re comment #13: Jennifer - i just got read your reply (i did not subscribe to comments)… that could be it!!! if you know to make it NOT strip the img stuff, you will always be the scripty goddess to me.
yay! but now that i think about it, no code gets pasted in the comment form. it's been so long… i can't remember the symptoms anymore… i guess i can test it out once more and let you know.
June 13th, 2004 at 2:14 pm
Jennifer,
How about this one. Sometimes you just want a quickie, ya know?
MicoMini Poll
June 15th, 2004 at 5:27 am
Note to Sara - I worked up a quick version of the Netflix queue plugin for Expression Engine that is just an easy php call to a Perl script. You should be able to use it for WordPress easily as well. Netflix Queue
June 17th, 2004 at 5:43 pm
Jason - I'm going to start work on a CAPTCHA for WordPress on Monday, June 21st. I haven't yet decided if I am going to implement it on my site… but I am definitely leaning that way. And to address the issues Jennifer brought up:
- 6 characters might be a bit long… 4 characters is certainly less of a hassle.
- An alternate way of posting comments should be provided for those who are unable to view the image… the most foolproof way being a "plain text" e-mail address. For example: manual_comments AT this domain.
CAPTCHAs are very effective (not THAT many spammers are willing to manually enter in the CAPTCHA string), and in combination with WP's link-limiting feature and built-in blacklist, it should keep your site comment-free. But you MUST make sure that there is a way for disabled viewers to comment.
June 20th, 2004 at 9:08 pm
I dont know if this has been covered or no, but i couldnt find a plugin/hack for this.
I'm looking for automatic comment highlighting by the Author. So far i've come across manual comment highlighting, but i need to highlight all the comments made by the author on the site.
Is it possible jen?
July 19th, 2004 at 9:07 pm
hmmmmmmm
well
I'd like:
a Bayesian plugin to do comment moderation
and a visual CAPTCHA — it doesn't bother me that blind people won't be able to read my site.
July 28th, 2004 at 7:45 am
Bring on the captcha wordpress plugin!!
thanks