Movable Type: Pro vs Open [closed] - open-source

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I've been doing a lot of research into what blogging software I should use to set up my personal website. I've developed themes in WP, before, and really dislike the way it's set up. It's just so messy, and feels like I'm always working against the software whenever I try to do anything.
So far, Movable Type is looking like a great alternative, but I'm not sure if I want to go with the open source or pro version. I can't find any definitive literature on the subject, or satisfactory comparison of the two services. I'd like to build my website from the ground, and have it running with as little fuss, and as little bloat as possible. Which have you gone with, if any? What are the major differences between them?

Answer 1

I use Movable Type Pro for most blog and web CMS applications, and recommend it to my company's customers.
The differences between Movable Type Pro and Movable Type Open Source are that Movable Type Pro includes:
1) Custom fields, which are discussed briefly in http://www.movabletype.org/documentation/professional/custom-fields/overview.html. Custom fields are one of the key tools in the arsenal of a professional Movable Type consultant.
2) Social Networking features represented by the Movable Type Community Solution. This is discussed extensively in http://www.movabletype.org/documentation/community/. The Community Solution is a product that has been part of Movable Type Pro since 2008. It does not provide integration with Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. What it provides is the ability to construct a private community of users of your Movable Type-based website.
I have used Movable Type Community Solution by installing it and customizing the look and feel by CSS overrides. But I think the greatest value of the Movable Type Community Solution to a web developer in 2012 is being able to look at the code and see how the features are constructed. I have learned a great deal about Movable Type professional template coding and application construction by setting up a Community Solution-based website on my localhost and breaking down the templates associated with the Community Solution.
There are many other sources of valuable Movable Type solutions and techniques that are freely available on Github. The largest of these repositories is https://github.com/movabletype/, but there are others maintained by third party development companies and individual developers.
Most of these plugins, template sets, and themes will work with either Movable Type Pro or Movable Type Open Source.

Answer 2

The MT-plugin Field Day (can be used in the OS version) is a good alternative to Custom Fields (Pro version).
Your biggest challenge is choosing between MT4 and MT5 I guess.....
The ProNet might be helpfull on that: http://ml.sixapart.com/mailman/listinfo/pronet

Answer 3

The difference with MT OS and MT Pro is mostly Custom Fields, which is a really powerful feature if you want to use MT as a custom CMS:
http://www.movabletype.org/documentation/professional/custom-fields/overview.html
The pro version also bundles a set of nice looking themes:
http://www.movabletype.org/documentation/professional/professional-website.html
I like Movable Type because it doesn't try to do too much for you if you already know html + css. The biggest pain is continually rebuilding everything to generate static files. The upside to this is that your website will never crash with sudden surges in traffic, as WP blogs often do.
I haven't tried textpattern.

Answer 4

I use Pro on several enterprise sites. The support was the main reason for going that route. The Pro package comes with a number of Community and Corporate templates if you want to take advantage of them. However, you could probably do much the same with the open source version if you wanted...it might be a bit more effort.
I love MT. You can make a site template and plug MT into the background to maintain everything. I use it mostly as a CMS, not a blog.

Answer 5

You should know that MT PRO contains two packages more than MT OS.
The two packages are called:
Professional Pack
Community Pack
The 'Professional Pack' introduces the custom fields feature which you could indeed compensate with the 'Field Day' movable type plugin available at: https://github.com/movabletype/mt-plugin-field-day.
However, while the 'fields day' plugin wasn't revised in the last 3 years, the movable type custom fields feature is improved on an ongoing basis and I'm proud to have contributed myself with a few bug reports.
The 'Community Pack' allows you to turn your website into an online community where users could register, sign in, have a profile, follow and be followed.
Both PRO packages are introducing a few more default template sets which allow you to build professional websites, professional blogs, community blogs and community forums.
The license cost is affordable for companies and there is also a free license for individual bloggers.
Upgrading from OS to PRO is could be done just like any other regular upgrade.