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My First Movable Type Plugin: EncodeNonAscii

Mar 07, 2005 2:05 PM
Tags: blogging, movabletype, opensource, perl, programming

Based on an earlier, fruitless search for a plugin that would keep invalid characters out of my MT-generated HTML, I whipped up EncodeNonAscii.

Give it a whirl. It's a ridiculously simple plugin, and I still find it hard to believe that I wasn't reinventing the wheel, but I've been using it for a few days and it works.


Comments: My First Movable Type Plugin: EncodeNonAscii

I get the impression that most coders don't use MT, or I should say conversely, MT isn't used by a lot of coders...

I know that you are the only one I'm aware of...

Posted by: Kearns on March 7, 2005 9:57 PM | permalink

Well, know of a handful who do (e.g. http://www.decafbad.com/ , http://www.unix-girl.com/blog/ and http://www.wingedpig.com/ ). Then again, I read an obscene number of blogs.

I'm not interested in a homebrew system, because it's reinventing the wheel in too many places. I don't mind doing such things as learning exercises, but building blog software from the ground up is just too ambitious for my interest level. (This, of course, could change.)

Slashcode sucks as blogging software, as does LiveJournal.

WordPress and Drupal didn't exist (or were at least near-unknowns) when I started.

And, most importantly, it's a result of marketing:

When I tried out blogging, Blogger seemed to be the popular free choice. Then, when I outgrew it, everyone seemed to say that MT was the way to go.

I could switch to something else, but I see no compelling reason to, other than the fact I don't like Perl (blech) and that MT is a more popular target for spammers (a problem that's under control).

Furthermore, I see good reasons to stay: upgrades, plugins and bug-fixes provided by others' labor. :)

Posted by: Joe Grossberg on March 8, 2005 7:49 AM | permalink

No more comments! Either someone has violated Godwin's Law, I'm tired of the discussion or, most likely, the ten-week window has closed. You can, however, contact me through email.