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Movable Type

Movable Type

Overview

What is Movable Type?

Movable Type is a Perl-based content management system from Six Apart, featuring the capability to host multiple weblogs and standalone content pages, manage files and user roles, templates, tags, categories, and trackback links.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Movable Type is a versatile tool that has found multiple use cases across different industries and organizations. Web designers rely on …
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My type is Movable Type

6 out of 10
May 14, 2014
We used Movable Type as a blogging tool for our editors/writers. With the amount of content being posted to our site on a daily basis, the …
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GTD: Gets Things Done

7 out of 10
April 22, 2014
When I worked at a newspaper, we launched an entertainment website that functioned as an arm of our entertainment section. It was used by …
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Pricing

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What is Movable Type?

Movable Type is a Perl-based content management system from Six Apart, featuring the capability to host multiple weblogs and standalone content pages, manage files and user roles, templates, tags, categories, and trackback links.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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What is Squarespace?

Squarespace is a CMS platform that allows users to create a DIY blog, eCommerce store, and/or portfolio (visual art or music). Some Squarespace website and shop templates are industry or use case-specific, such as menu builders for restaurant sites.

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Product Demos

Movable Type 3.3 installatie

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Movable Type Memo Plugin With Techmeme RSS

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Product Details

What is Movable Type?

Movable Type is a Perl-based CMS from Six Apart, featuring the capability to host multiple weblogs and standalone content pages, manage files and user roles, templates, tags, categories and trackback links. Six Apart was formed in 2001 as a blog solution provider in the US. In 2003 the company founded Six Apart KK, a Japanese legal entity. In November 2010, Six Apart joined forces with VideoEgg to create a new company called SAY Media. In January 2011, Six Apart KK was wholly acquired by Infocom, a Japanese IT company listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Six Apart KK has assumed responsibility over all intellectual property and business operations of Movable Type, as well as trademark rights of Six Apart. The new Six Apart, a Japanese corporation formerly known as Six Apart KK, currently develops, markets and supports Movable Type for a global user base.

Movable Type touts a template markup system near in complexity to HTML. It is designed to support unlimited users and expanding without degrading site experience or increasing page load times. Custom fields, themes, plugins and the data API support great configurability. Its decoupled architecture supports flexible deployment for multichannel delivery. It is proprietary software.

Movable Type Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(16)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Movable Type is a versatile tool that has found multiple use cases across different industries and organizations. Web designers rely on Movable Type to build content management systems for their clients, enabling easy modification and addition of content to websites. According to reviewers, Movable Type serves as a lightweight CMS and blogging platform, making it ideal for setting up small to medium-sized websites for various clients.

One notable advantage of Movable Type over Wordpress, as reported by users, is its reliability and enhanced security features. By creating static pages, Movable Type minimizes the risk of compromising the site's security. Fashion publications leverage Movable Type as a blogging tool for editors and writers, streamlining content creation processes and boosting their SEO strategies. In addition, companies utilize Movable Type as an intranet system, providing employees with access to internal resources and reducing the need for frequent departmental calls.

The Creative Media Department of organizations manages multiple websites using Movable Type, benefiting from its ability to make design and content adjustments from a single installation. Educational institutions have also embraced Movable Type as a means of facilitating communication about class projects in a blog-style format. Furthermore, newspapers find value in using Movable Type to quickly reproduce print stories online, simplifying the publishing process and enabling efficient article tagging. Lastly, Oberlin College & Conservatory's Office of Communications Division utilizes Movable Type to manage student blogs effectively and maintain a strong presence on social media platforms.

Overall, Movable Type proves itself as a reliable solution with diverse applications in web design, publishing, education, and internal communication within organizations.

Intuitive and Easy-to-Use Custom Fields: Several users have found the custom fields in Movable Type to be intuitive and easy to work with, even when compared to other popular blogging platforms. They appreciate that custom fields can be defined for different entity types and are easy to find and use in the new content form.

Rich Templating Language: Many reviewers have praised the rich templating language in Movable Type, mentioning that it comes with numerous built-in features. They note that there is less need to extend for further templating functionality, and some users even mention adding their own PHP code to enhance the features.

User-Friendly Interface: Users consistently highlight that Movable Type is easy to use straight out of the box, thanks to its user-friendly interface. Navigation is effortless, making it a breeze for both beginners and experienced users alike.

Cons:

  1. Complicated Backend Customization: Some users have found the customization of the backend in Movable Type to be more complicated compared to other CMS platforms like WordPress or Drupal, making it difficult to rebrand the interface without hacking core files.
  2. Confusing Licensing: Several reviewers have mentioned that the licensing of Movable Type can be confusing and has undergone changes over time, with an open-source version of MT6.x no longer available.
  3. Limited Plugins and Media-Friendliness: Users have noted that Movable Type has a limited number of plugins compared to popular CMS platforms like WordPress or Drupal, and also found it less media-friendly with difficulties in embedding video and images, constantly needing resizing for proper display.

Note: The cons listed above are based on user feedback and opinions about Movable Type.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-10 of 10)
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Sophia Ahn | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
For the purpose of simple, day-to-day blogging, Movable Type will get the job done. As I mentioned before, it has an intuitive UI so that most beginners can pick it up and build a simple blog post. But if you're looking for a CMS that will host multimedia content, interactive content, or any "fancy" production that goes beyond paragraphs and bullet points, then I would recommend something different - maybe even a custom CMS for the maximum control over your website's back-end coding. Keep in mind that the CMS does have some quirks and can be finicky, but the support staff is extremely helpful and available.
Jean Louis | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Will this be used just for blogging or will this be used as a content management system?
What plugin will I need for my website? Some CMS have plugin but they may not function the way you would like them to. So always do your research before making a selection on what CMS to use.
Dennis Dewey | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Is your business an enterprise level business that has more than a half dozen different content types? If so, then you might want to use a dedicated CMS rather than Movable Type. Movable Type is best used on small / medium sized businesses and is not the best solution for a full-fledged CMS. If you're using your content for something other than just displaying a website, then it's probably not for you. Movable Type works great for news/blogging sites. In fact, Daring Fireball, one of the most popular Apple-centric blogs is using Movable Type as its publishing platform.
James Warkulwiz | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I feel that Moveable type is a good application for CMS work. My only issue was that it somehow became corrupted, and my paper's entire archives were unavailable for more than a year. I am unsure if this had to do with Moveable Type itself or the departure of our company's skilled web developer and his unqualified replacement disrupting the code.
Kurtis Amundson | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Movable Type allows for great flexibility, and would be great for creating a large, multi-page, multi-purpose website. I would not advise someone to use Movable Type if they are just creating a simple 3-page portfolio website. The time to construct the site compared to the return investment of content in the end, I don't see as being worth the effort. But a fully dynamic site with many variables, is definitely one that I would recommend using Movable Type as the content management system.
April 22, 2014

GTD: Gets Things Done

Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Know who your users will be. Are they tech savvy? Do they know HTML? Do they need access to HTML or style sheets? If so, make sure that the access Movable Type provides is enough for your administrators/users. I think Movable Type does a good job of finding a middle ground. You don't really need to be an expert in HTML. It seems to be a good product for people who are professional communicators-- such as journalists.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Personally, the key question to ask about Movable Type is its reliability in terms of delivering the services that you expect it to deliver. In my experience with Movable Type, I have had no severe complications that make me view the product as inefficient or unreliable. I have always been able to accomplish my tasks and have the server do what I need it to do. Which is wonderful in my job and overall!
Joffroi Holcombe | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
If someone was well versed in PHP and SQL, I would recommend building a system from scratch. If they are more comfortable using a system then can customize, but that has the backbone already created, this would be a great tool. If they have a very limited knowledge of coding, I would recommend Wordpress just due to the more available plugins and templates.
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