The move from Movable Type to WordPress

Now, I am not trying to start another evangelical platform war as some may call it, but I thought I would share my thoughts on why I decided to pursue this option for our flagship web site.

First of all, I must say that Movable Type is still one of my favourite blogging/CMS systems that I have ever used. The multiple web sites function, the well-packaged, easy-to-read MT code and templates, the superior widget management interface and “building=block” flexibility is truly amazing. I can understand why a lot of corporate-type web sites have adopted MT.

For me at this moment however, I don’t know, maybe I am getting a bit older but as I can foresee that “life” will be getting much more busier, I feel like I am going to have less time on my hands. And thus, WordPress (especially WP 3.0 and a new pre-made WP template that I found) seems like the best option to manage an already stable and established web resource.

What really sealed the deal for me was WordPress’s “eventual” move to merge WordPress and WordPress Mu and the integration of building and managing taxonomies (the librarian in me is smiling). Plus, the new WP template that I picked out from Woothemes, I REALLY like, which in the end (theoretically) will save me a lot of time rather than cleaning up our existing, multiple web templates on MT. With WP, it is just one theme that I can easily distribute to each of our portals and customize accordingly.

I also find the WP community quite vast and numerous as compared to MT. If there is anything wrong or if somebody needs to build an extra a plugin or feature, the solution will most likely be out there (or at least asked). Furthermore, I also now use WP at work (which was to be quite honest a big influence) and the local web community here is “big”. If I was working on this project full-time, I would probably be fine and stay with MT while continuing to use both platforms (and others) for other web initiatives (and there are many).

Times have changed, and “life” priorities can do that to ya.

Here is Matt Mullenweg’s 2010 State of the Word speech at WordCamp San Francisco from the post: WordPress 3.0 “Thelonious”, which I enjoyed watching while contemplating my decision.

Usually, platforms leap-frog over each other and adopt and/or sometimes enhances certain features that the other platform originally started. WP (I believe) started with widgets and MT had multiple-web sites built-into their core (WP Mu is the equivalent). I am still using and keeping MT around as I can imagine they will be doing something innovative again sometime soon. Until then, WordPress 3.0 all the way…

I’m starting the migration process as we speak, I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

Comments

2 comments on “The move from Movable Type to WordPress”
  1. the author says:

    Ahem, in retrospect….if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.

  2. rex says:

    It can definitely work that way. You can easily use some of the existing templates to replicate that.

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