Learning Movable Type

Learning Movable Type (LMT) is a growing set of tutorials, presented in blog format, aimed at helping users of the Movable Type (MT) web publishing platform. These tutorials are geared for those with a good understanding of HTML, a fair understanding of CSS, but who are not necessarily programmers or web designers.

Although LMT is presented as a blog, think of it more as a living, dynamic book, with topics representing chapters, and with tutorials that get added or updated every once in a while. As with a book, the best place to start is with the Topics in the right sidebar. Click on a chapter heading to see the list of tutorials contained. The Index lists the subjects (or tags) you may find explored in LMT. You can also use the search form in the sidebar to look-up a topic. Note that we try to update the tutorials when we can, but not all of them have the most up-to-date information. Check the date that the entry was posted, or if there is an "Update" note under the date to see when the tutorial was updated last.

Most of what is presented here we learned through trial and error and with the numerous suggestions of the generous contributors at Movable Type's Support Forum. We ask that you please make any support requests on the MT Support Forum. There you will find a whole team of knowledgeable experts who are more than willing to help. Do not be afraid to ask "dumb" questions in the forum! Elise's first forum question was, "How do I add a hyperlink?" Many things are not obvious from the program and it is a perfectly okay to ask these kinds of questions as a beginner. Do read Shelley's guide to finding answers before you make your first post on the forums. We also highly recommend that, if you haven't already, you pay for an MT license through Six Apart. A paid license entitles you to an online support desk staffed by the real MT experts, as well as access to a knowledge base of answers to many questions regarding Movable Type.

Comments Policy

LMT is not a forum, nor it is a typical blog; it is much more like a book. As such, although comments are welcome on most of the posts, any comment that we feel does not add sufficiently to the post topic may be removed. Edits are made rarely, usually to correct spelling or to make a hyperlink live, and are made in the spirit of making the tutorial more useful for all readers. All comments are moderated. People who attempt to leave comments that are rude or insulting will be banned from further postings. Please note that the best place to ask support questions regarding your weblog is the Movable Type Support Forum or through Six Apart ticketed support.

Become a LMT Contributor

Have you written a Movable Type tutorial that you believe others would find useful? If so, please consider becoming an LMT contributor and posting your tutorial on this website. LMT is only as valuable as we make it. Please review the LMT Author Guidelines. Contact Elise with your idea or outline at elise AT elise {dot\ com.

Elise Bauer, Editor-in-Chief

Elise is from and lives in Northern California. For more than 20 years Elise advised technology companies on their business and marketing strategies. Her clients included Apple Computer, Symantec, Warner Music Group, Seagate, Technorati, and a host of technology start-up companies. She has both MBA and undergraduate degrees from Stanford University. Currently, Elise is engaged full-time cooking, photographing and writing for Simply Recipes, her popular, award-winning food blog. Elise is a contributing editor for BlogHer and is a frequent speaker at the BlogHer conferences. In addition to great food, Elise loves Aikido (a Japanese martial art she's been practicing for 20 years), swimming, body-boarding, history, art, yoga, singing, children of all ages (especially her nephews and fairy godchildren), her friends and family, most of which can be gleaned from perusing elise.com.

Jesse Gardner, Contributing Editor

A master of CSS and MT, Jesse runs his own web design company PlasticMind Design, and the MT tips site Movable Tweak. He is a walking paradox: the country bumpkin living 50 feet from an interstate, the techie who carries a moleskin journal instead of a tablet pc, the folk singer who thrives on electronica. When he's not confusing himself or other around him, Jesse is an active, contributing member of the MT ProNet community, well known for his calm demeanor, sense of humor, and diplomacy. Based in Philadephia, Jesse is married to Jessica and is an unlikely blend of professions: web designer and associate pastor. Jesse loves to litter his personal blog, A Jar of PlasticMind with all kinds of random stuff, so if you don't find anything interesting there, you probably will tomorrow.

Arvind Satyanarayan, Contributing Editor

Arvind and Elise have been collaborating on MT tutorials since Arvind was 14 years old. Arvind is a regular contributor to LMT and a prolific developer of Movable Type plugins which can be found on his MT-focused site Movalog. Arvind's plugins include MT Blogroll, Privacy, Live Preview, and SCode. Arvind is now an 18 year old student living in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates at the University of California, San Diego (Go Tritons!). He enjoys squash, debate, para-sailing, and his mother's excellent brownies. He has been known to carry on 10 simultaneous IM sessions, whilst reading blogs and writing plugins. He often needs to translate IM-speak to his more out-of-it colleagues, like Elise and Anil. Arvind also writes at his personal blog - Vox'ing from Abu Dhabi

Contact Info

Do you have a "how to" question or a different question concerning your installation of Movable Type? If so, please do not send Elise, Jesse or Arvind an email about it; instead, ask your question at the MT Support Forum. If your communication is not MT support related, please use the following email contact form to send Elise an email.