Movable Type Launches MT6

Movable Type, the pioneer publishing platform developed by Six Apart, today announced the launch of its latest version, MT6, which is now available in North America and Japan.  The version’s debut marks the next phase of the “Movable Type Creating Momentum” campaign in North America, aimed at re-establishing Movable Type’s foothold as the premier content management system, particularly among mid-market and enterprise businesses.  The new MT6 will appeal to enterprises, bloggers and developers looking for a more customizable alternative to CMS platforms such as WordPress, Drupal, and ExpressionEngine.  

Designed to Handle Large Quantities of Content

“In today’s multi-screen environment, content is being created and viewed everywhere, on many devices and in many regions, creating a great need for better scalability, more stability and increased security,” said Nobuhiro Seki, president and CEO, Six Apart , the parent company  of Movable Type. “MT6’s architecture provides users with the ability to handle large quantities of content, and enables the seamless removal and updating of mass quantities of content, safely and securely.”

Improved Documentation 

“We’ve been making great strides to re-establish our foothold in North America, through the partnerships we have formed, as well as the conscious effort we’ve made to really listen and incorporate the feedback coming directly from our users and developers,” said Robert Minton, General Manager of North America at Six Apart.  “For example, we are nearly finished with a large scale documentation improvement project, which includes direct feedback and input from hundreds of Movable Type users and developers. By listening to their feedback and including their input in the development of MT6, we hope to reignite some of the passion in the Movable Type developer community that has unfortunately waned over the past few years.”

Data API -- Access Your Movable Type Content Using JavaScript and JSON

Among the most significant updates made to the platform in Movable Type 6 is the MT6 Data API, a series of programmatic interfaces that enables both the management of Movable Type CMS functions and the display of published content from MT6-based sites, regardless of where it's being viewed - tablet, smartphone, etc. This feature is imperative in the multi-screen environment, and allows members of the developer community to:  

• Manage Movable Type content from within custom-built applications.
• Build iOS and Android Apps that deliver content from Movable Type using the micropublishing model.
• Create widgets for Movable Type or other publishing environments that stream or list content published in Movable Type.

Chart API -- Display Statistics Associated with Your Movable Type Content

The Chart API replaces the flash widget, and displays the most useful metrics on dashboards within the Movable Type CMS, such as:

• Number of posts
• Number of comments
• Number of user registrations

The Chart API is open to developers, so that they can create customized metrics associated with content being managed with Movable Type.  Things like:

• Number of customer leads generated by the blog or website over time (with hooks to Salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle, etc.).
• Number of support incidents either created or solved as a result of the blog or website over time (with hooks to Desk.com, Zendesk, Get Satisfaction, etc.).
• Number of readers added to a mailing list (with hooks to Constant Contact, MailChimp, etc.).
• Number of referral marketing links followed and possibly items purchased (with hooks to Amazon.com and other referral systems.).

Further Enhancements to the Listing Framework

“One feature I love about MT6 is the Listing Framework, which is used to display all of the object "Manage" screens, like Blogs, Entries, and Comments,” said Dan Wolfgang, MT Guru and the creator of one of Movable Type's most popular plugins: Better File Uploader. “I find myself constantly using it to sort content, predefine filters, create and share filters for future use and share them with other users.”

See Movable Type 6 at the Movable Type Idea Exchange in New York

Movable Type is hosting the Movable Type Idea Exchange, in conjunction with the 2013 Pivot Conference at Social Week in New York City, on October 15th and 16th, 2013. During the event, developers will have the opportunity to interact and engage with MT6, explore valuable add-ons to extend the usability of the platform, and experience a series of speaker presentations from industry luminaries addressing a wide range of topics relevant to blogging and content management.