Every time I think Movable Type couldn't get any better, I update to the most recent development version of MT4 and I see all of the latest enhancements. Most of the time I can predict what those will be; as the Product Manager of Movable Type I have a pretty good idea of what everyone is working on.
But then sometimes one of the engineers will throw a curve ball. Like today, when I saw that Brad Choate, MT's lead engineer, created an honest-to-god real live preview feature for entries you are editing.
Yep, you heard me.
So now, when you click the "Preview" button from the entry editing screen, you will get to see what your post will actually look like on your blog. Awesome.
The feature was never scoped for 4.0. It was actually specifically scoped out of the release because of time constraints. In fact, I remember the day I crossed it off the 4.0 feature list, saying quietly to myself, "one day my dear feature, one day you will find a home... but not today." And then I shed a tear.
When I talked to Brad about this sneaking in, he said, "I just could let another release of MT go by without a real preview."
And that to me pretty much sums up why I am loving, loving, loving MT4. Virtually all of those features I always wished I had are finding their way into this release. Brad and the entire engineering team is making sure of it. Thank you Brad, Beau and David. Thank you!
But then sometimes one of the engineers will throw a curve ball. Like today, when I saw that Brad Choate, MT's lead engineer, created an honest-to-god real live preview feature for entries you are editing.
Yep, you heard me.
So now, when you click the "Preview" button from the entry editing screen, you will get to see what your post will actually look like on your blog. Awesome.
The feature was never scoped for 4.0. It was actually specifically scoped out of the release because of time constraints. In fact, I remember the day I crossed it off the 4.0 feature list, saying quietly to myself, "one day my dear feature, one day you will find a home... but not today." And then I shed a tear.
When I talked to Brad about this sneaking in, he said, "I just could let another release of MT go by without a real preview."
And that to me pretty much sums up why I am loving, loving, loving MT4. Virtually all of those features I always wished I had are finding their way into this release. Brad and the entire engineering team is making sure of it. Thank you Brad, Beau and David. Thank you!
Arvind Satyanarayan
June 10, 2007 3:13 AM | Reply
Being the author of the plugin that currently providers this functionality this is bittersweet. I'm simultaneously ecstatic that (a) the functionality my plugin provided - which was long overdue - finally found its way into the core and is probably far better executed and (b) I can kiss yet another plugin goodbye which frees me up even more. But I will miss LivePreview, it was one of my favourite plugins :)
Jay Allen
June 10, 2007 4:33 PM | Reply
Awesome work MT team AND Arvind. She was a fantastic plugin but now you get to move onto bigger and better things.
LivePreview is dead! Long live LivePreview!
Toni Hambilton
June 11, 2007 4:03 AM | Reply
Live Preview is one of my favourite plugins and I'm so happy it's going to be finally incorporated into MT4. This is the first time I've been excited about an MT release for a long time. New plugins and tutorials had slowed for MT because nearly everything was written that could have been written. Now we can also look forward to an extended user experience, figuring out how to tweak templates, create pages, etc. Elise, etal, will have their work cut out for them.