Killer MovableType plugins
Even though TypePad kicks major butt, I use MovableType more every day (for MobileTracker and a few upcoming sites). Been doing a ton of complex templating the last few days for said upcoming sites, and have really been hitting up a couple plugins that rock:
MTIfEmpty – lets you use standard looking MT tags to do if/else logic based on if fields are empty or not. This is key to almost any complex template.
MTCatEntries – lets you exclude categories from an MTEntries type tag (it renames it to something else, but does the same thing as MTEntries)… The default “category” attribute of MTEntries only allows you to specify categories to pull from (not categories to not pull from). Again… This is key to some of the more CMS type applications of MovableType.
MTCompare – adds more if/else logic… Haven’t used it yet, but it looks slick.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see the functionality of these being wrapped into a future release of MovableType (maybe Pro?). Another suggestion for getting more CMS functionality out of MovableType: think outside the box. They give you a few fields that you don’t normally use (keywords, excerpt). Use them.
Actually, the added fields are more interesting for their intended purpose (nice metadata, for one thing) than using them for some other item.
If you want something akin to ‘extra fields,’ Key Values is probably the plugin for you. And of course MTMacros 0wns. If you’re willing to actually hack MT, here’s how.
It’s tough to explain Key Values stuff to people not used to writing in hypertext (used to putting extra stuff in).
MTMacros is great as well. So many good plugins out there these days.
I’m using Keywords almost like it was meant to, except i just put it one word (the word that is used in the permalink).
Excerpt is another manner… 🙂
I wish I would understand why MovableType is great. The features and hacks seem so kickass but simply, I am no fan of CGI’s. :p
But they don’t need to write in hypertext, Jon, it’s as easy as saying rating=5, or whatever.