How To Blog

Turns out MovableType does work in Firefox

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Update:  I just got back from a long weekend visiting my adorable new nephew Jackson, and when I went to try and update my MT blog from within Firefox, this time everything worked fine (which is bizarre, since I didn't do anything to upgrade either my MT install or Firefox, but hey, I'm not complaining)  So I don't know what kind of glitch I was experiencing btwn MT and Firefox, but it appears to have been temporary  :)

So I just got a slew of emails allerting me to the huge load of comment spam that just arrived on my demo MovableType site over at Online Travelogue.com (which I haven’t put more work into developing b/c I’ve decided I prefer WordPress to MT when it comes to hosted weblog solutions).  I don’t know why these guys even bother – I have it set so every comment must be manually approved, so their spam never shows up on my pages.  BUT ANYWAY, I digress..

So I click the link in my email to ‘edit this comment’, and since I’ve switched from using Internet Explorer to Firefox, of course this launched a window in Firefox prompting me to log in.  So I log in (AND, I check the checkbox for “Remember Me”).  I click on the comments link – and it starts asking me to login again (didn’t I justdo that?).  So I login again, and now it shows me the page of comments and I click ‘check all’ and then click ‘delete’ and guess what?  It asks me to login again.  Which I do.  And then it asks me if I’m sure I want to delete 1 comment (I’m trying to delete 20), and I click yes, and guess what????  It asks me to login again, which, after doing, prompts me with another ‘are you sure you want to delete 1 comment’, after which I decide it’s time to launch IE.  Sure enough, I login with IE once, and everything goes smooth as silk.  With so many users switching to Firefox these days, how is it that something as popular as movable type doesn’t work in that browser (at least not the UI for the blog owner).

Anyone else have problems using MT with Firefox?

How to customize an existing WordPress 1.5 theme just the way you want

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Well, a big THANK YOU is in order to UrbanGiraffe who has created a theme guide for modifying WordPress 1.5 themes to customize them for your site (in case none of the 369+ free wordpress themes currently available completely fit the bill for your site).  Part 1 of the Guide spans 8 (!) pages and is quite detailed.   Here's an excerpt that hilights what you can expect from Part 1:

"Despite the availability of hundreds of themes, and the general goodness of the default Kubrick theme, sometimes you just want to give your blog that personal touch, and the only way to do this is by going under the hood and having a look around. <snip>

With this in mind I decided to write a guide that would help not only myself, but might also help others who have been put off trying to experiment with WordPress.<snip>

In writing this I will assume a rudimentary knowledge of HTML and CSS. I will attempt to annotate all the important parts. The guide will begin slowly, but should speed up once a level of comfort has been reached.

Rather than starting a theme from scratch, and having to explain everything, I will instead focus on dissecting an existing theme and explaining parts as they are required. From a personal point of view, I find it easier to learn things by focussing on the small details, and ignoring everything else. In this instance I will be using the default WordPress 1.5 theme Kubrick."

Part 2, which has yet to be posted, will focus on customizing your sidebar content.

UPDATE: Customizing existing wordpress themes continued

 

WordPress Plugin and Mod Competition sponsored by weblogtoolscollection.com

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Just in case would-be WordPress developers were feeling empty since the completion of  Alex King’s theme competition, along comes Mark with Weblog Tools Collection’s Wordpress Plugin and Mod Competition!

Given the popularity of Alex’s theme competition, this Plugin and Mod competition is sure to spark the creative juices of many in the WordPress community (much to the benefit of the entire WP community!)  This is utterly fantastic because who knows in what ways new plug-ins will enhance the functionality of WordPress 1.5!   I can’t wait to see the entries roll in.

The contest will run for two months, starting on April 15th (ugh – tax day…guess you can’t expect folks to have time to work on much before that), and while the prize list hasn’t been fully determined, there’s at least $500 in it for one lucky developer courtesy of weblogs.us, and Mark may even contribute a Sony PSP (which, btw, has one of the best TV ad campaigns I’ve ever seen – every commercial I see REALLY makes me want to buy one (and that says a lot since I usually pooka pooka (tivo) my way through commercials), alas I lack the funds

Step by Step guide on moving from blogger to wordpress 1.5

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Moving from blogger to wordpress 1.5: A (very) detailed step by step look at moving your Blogger blog to Wordpress.

Alex King announces winners of WordPress 1.5 Themes Competition

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For full details, head on over to Alex’s Theme Contest Winners Announced where he describes the prizes, judging criteria, etc.  Thanks again, Alex, for hosting such an amazing contest which has truly brought out the creative energy of some very talented authors.  And many thanks to all the theme authors – you’re a big part of why the WordPress community as special as it is!

For those of you who just want the down and dirty details, here are the winners for the various categories

The Poobahs!

1. Grand Poobah - Connections
2. Plain Ol’ Poobah - Rin
3. Mini Poobah - Red Train

• Honorable Mention - Wuhan
• Honorable Mention - Orange Sky
• Honorable Mention - Green Marinee

Most Creative Design

1. Head (in a very close race)

Random Draw Prize Winners

• Almodovar wins Web Standards Solutions
• Greenwood wins The Zen of CSS Design

Pixel Perfect Design Prize Winner

• rdc* Theme
• FastTrack

Most Versatile Design

• Zen Minimalist (Gregory Auld)
• Sharepoint Like (Kimmo)
• LetterHead (Kimmo)
• Man~ja (Kimmo)

Global Appeal Prize Winner

• Almost Spring

Most like a Paper Diary Prize Winner

• Jakart