freemode.net

New, improved site    [ Site Info ]

Moved site over to Movable Type 2.51 after finding multiple reports of security holes in GreyMatter.   The author of GreyMatter isn't maintaining the software, so the chances of these or future holes getting fixed is rather slim, despite volunteer efforts.   So I switched, and the site looks a little different now.

It took about an hour to get Movable Type downloaded/installed/configured with a base config, another half an hour to get the site content migrated, and then two or three really fun hours of wrestling with CSS to get it to look the way I wanted.

Movable Type actually uses CSS by default, unlike GreyMatter, which makes it easy to use the provided styles.   However, you have to build your own header/sidebar "Template Macros" where GreyMatter defines those from the start.   Not a big gripe, just takes another 15-30 minutes to break out the code and then look up the macro references in the documentation to get it right.

And then there's the joy of writing cross-platform CSS that Works Right.   So far it looks good on MS IE 6.0 on Win2K and Netscape 6.2.3 on Solaris, thanks to the quality of the initial templates.   I still need to test it with the latest greatest Mozilla and Konqueror on my FreeBSD laptop.