Misc. Ramblings

Okay, as far as I can tell, most of the behind the scenes changes to this blog went through without problems. What I did was upgrade to the latest version of MovableType. Like upgrading GNU/Linux distros, I don't really do an upgrade. What I do is backup the posts and then wipe the directories clean. Only after doing that do I install the new software. Otherwise, the old files don't necessarily get upgraded and you can end up with a partially upgraded system which makes for a fully unstable one. System, that is.

I note that the instructions on how to do the install leave out important parts. Like? If you are using GNU/Linux ftp to move the main install file from your PC to your web host, you need to remember that the file is in binary format (either .gz or .zip, depending on which one you downloaded). If you upload it as ASCII, you _will_ have problems. Problems that may be difficult to diagnose. Even after you've done the upload and extracted the file into the folder you will be using (e.g., /bin, /cgi-bin, /cgi-sys, or where ever you've chosen) , you need to move the sub-directory called mt-static out of your install directory to somewhere on your web root. How you do that varies on the operating system of your host so I will leave that as an exercise for the user.

However, there are some issues related to the default index template that still need to be changed. For instance, why does the template display each and every past month? I mean, I've been posting for several years now and the default should not display the months on the main page. Rather, the default should be a link to a separate page that breaks things up my month, organized by year.

Secondly, for some reason, the title of each post is displayed as a link. I'm not sure why that is, although it seems like a good idea except for the fact that they already provide a link to the post (its down there labeled as "permalink"). I'm not sure, but MT may be combining CSS files from the old version with the new. If so, I need to find out how that is occurring because, as far as I know, I've deleted or moved all the old directories.

Lastly, and this is not necessarily part of the upgrade, I've decided to bite the bullet and go "dynamic" in page creation. This means pages will be created on the fly rather than rendered as standard, static HTML. I do this not because I think it is a good idea (in fact, I think it's the opposite), but since my web host, pair.com., throttles the scripts that MT uses, which causes certain functions to fail, I don't have any choice. Of course, I could switch to another host or host this site myself, both of which I am looking into. But for now, this is how things will have to go. This means, however, I really have to remember to back up the content because should the database that actually stores these posts become corrupted or otherwise fail, _everything_ will be lost. Everything. Like, forever. YMMV. Insert disclaimer here.

Aloha!