Some of many requests we get here at FirmDot are to upgrade Movable Type 3 to Movable Type 4. What many customers don’t know is Movable Type 4 uses a completely different template structure from MT 3, which means upgrading might break your existing blog. In addition to that, some Movable Type 3 plugins no longer work, or have been replaced by newer, MT 4 plugins.
Here is what we do – the recommended course of action is to setup a development environment on your hosting account with a duplicate copy of your Movable Type 3 blog. Then upgrade that development environment to Movable Type 4 and rebuild your blog. Then make a couple of test posts. If it works – Great! You can now safely upgrade your live environment. If your blog doesn’t rebuild – it’s time to re-code your templates to make them MT 4 friendly.
Please note that to take advantage of the new features of Movable Type 4, the templates will need to be converted (re-coded). Yes, it may be time consuming and cost you money, however in the long run you’ll be glad you did. Everything is shifting towards Movable Type 4 and all previous versions will eventually not be supported by Six Apart.
Tags: design, FirmDot, movable type, six apart, templates
