Movable Type 5 Released, Was It Worth The Wait?

On January 5, Movable Type 5 was finally released. There have been a number of upgrades and enhancements that users have been waiting for, for some time. However, some proponents do not believe that the new changes may be enough to make Movable Type the uncontested leader it once was. There have been some long-awaited additions that have gone a long way in making MT much closer to becoming a complete Content Management System.

Here are some of the new features of MT5:

Dashboard

MT5 has a new user dashboard where users can access both their websites and blogs. It has simplified the overall approach which makes it much easier for authors, editors, and designers. One of the first things that many users have noticed is that the dashboard is very similar to the dashboard that Wordpress uses as well.

Theme Applications

MT5 has a new theme mechanism that simplifies the process of adding and applying a new theme across an entire website and blog with a single click. This has been a change that every MT user has been waiting for.

Improved Content Management Features

There are several new or improved content management features. Some of the more noted features include: a revision history, new customizable fields, and five new object types for the custom fields – website, comment, blog, asset, and template.

No More SQLite and PostreSQL support

MT5 has moved to utilizing solely MySQL databases, which makes sense because it has become dominant in LAMP and WAMP environments. This move also takes a large burden off of developers which leaves them more time to work on additional features.

Open Source Option

There is an open source option available for the developer community as well as a commercial option for bloggers and business level websites. Currently, the pro blogger version is still free, however the business options are not.

MT and Wordpress seem very similar to users, however the biggest difference is how they are developed. Wordpress is focused primarily on PHP, while MT5 is still using PERL. Many non-MT5 users feel that while it is fairly competitive to other CMS platforms like Wordpress, this new release has not done enough make people want change from Wordpress to MT5. MT5 is a major upgrade to its previous versions and has made it a competitive option once again, however it may not have done enough to convince people that they need to change to MT5 if they are using other platforms like Wordpress.