WordPress was far easier to install than Movable Type was, and it has built in spam blacklists and easier-looking comment management, and a nice interface, but I don’t know php so editing the templates I find that I’m spending a lot of time squinting so I only see the familiar codes and not those lines of php with all the disconcerting question marks.
To change the URLs of my permalinks I have to “use mod_rewrite” which is no doubt basic for a programmer and I know I’ll be able to google my way to doing it, whatever it is, in time, but I’ve gotta say Movable Type is closer to HTML and familiar pastures.
I was getting a teeny bit sick of having to delete comments every single time I took a look at my blog, though. I’m not convinced WordPress’ll have better spam control, but simply changing systems should confuse the evil spammers for a while, anyway. I thought of using Tinderbox again. Now that Haloscan offers both comments and trackbacks I wouldn’t have to give up my networkedness. But I do like having the comments in my own control. It’s so cool that I could just import all the posts, comments and trackbacks from Movable Type, no problem!
I’ll try WordPress for a while. Maybe I’ll return to Movable Type, or Tinderbox, or another platform in a while. Trying out different systems is good. Like stretching. Keeps you flexible.
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steve
I found WordPress a bit intimidating. That’s part of why I’ve settled on Texpattern — something about the interface just feels intuitive to me. With WordPress I felt like I was struggling to figure things out, whereas Textpattern made sense right out of the box. However, I know other people have had the opposite experience. There’s an indefinable element to understanding a piece of software, like trying to explain why one tennis racket is more comfortable for your swing than another.
LiL
I’m running my main blog on MT, the first time I tried WordPress I was intimidated by what I now think was my unfamiliarity with open-sourceness. But after a while, I tried it again and now I really like it. WordPress feels really pure and transparent and hence manageable to me – though I’m only running a simple group of research blogs on it at this time, mainly for personal reference. So commenting is less of an issue and I certainly haven’t had to import anything yet. I like the link organization features a lot, and the categories as well. And just that WordPress has such a tiny core and generates pages on the fly, saving on disc space. I wonder how this will affect bandwidth usage for an oft-read blog like yours though.
tormodh
Since trackbacks doesn’t show (as far as I can see) – here’s a quick (and dirty) rundown on mod_rewrite.
scott
no pics are showing up for me here though — is that intentional or is that an unresolved wordpress thing?
Elin
I’ve come to really really love Tinderbox (remember the time years back where I just couldn’t make sense of it for my bare life? Gulp!) Now that I can, I am redesigning my blog in the t-box. But you’re right, trying out lots of different systems is fun:-) I think Jesper’s blog is done with wordpress?
E.