Movable Type 5.01 is out, find out what you can do with it

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As announced on movabletype.org this morning, Movable Type 5.01 has hit the download area.  The announcement mentions these major features: websites, themes, revision history, custom fields for all objects and a new user dashboard.

So what does this mean for you?  Let's have a look in more detail.
This is what the release announcement said:

  • Websites for grouping blogs together.
  • Themes with full support for custom fields, static files, templates, categories, folders, etc for blogs and websites.
  • Revision History for entries, pages, and templates.
  • Custom Fields for all objects.
  • User Dashboard for quick access to the most used blogs and websites.

  • Here is a little more info about these features, based on my own experience so far:

    Websites
    The websites feature is quite useful if you want to run a single site on MT with different subsections, each with their own categories, custom data fields and user permissions.  For example, you might be running a newspaper site and you want the foreign correspondents, local editors and sports pages editors all have their own section without the ability to post on each other's turf, with another corner of the site where the culinary editor can post recipes that need very specific custom fields (ingredients, type of cuisine, star rating...)

    All of this is now much easier than before in MT4, moving MT5 a giant stride in the full-blown-CMS direction.

    Themes
    Exporting a complete template set, including categories, files etc. has now become much easier.  Not only does this mean you will be able to easily replicate the look and features of one blog on other blogs on your installation, but it will also allow you (and other designers) to share their creations online in a much more simple way: just download and install a file, and presto, new theme!

    Revision History
    I have been using MT5 for a few weeks now, and this feature has already saved me a few times.  Screwed up an entry or a template?  Simply go back a few versions and all is well again.  Also handy to track who changed what and when on a multi-user installation.

    Custom Fields for All Objects
    Want to add a few checkbox settings to your blogs?  Associate an image with a category?  Store more information about basically anything in Movable Type 5?  Then you will love this feature.

    User Dashboard
    When first logging in, this screen will give you quick access to the most used blogs etc. that you were recently working on.  Personally, I haven't been on this screen much yet, mainly because the improved navigation also allows you to jump quickly between your most used websites and blogs at the click of a button.

    Of course there are more features in this release, like the redesigned navigation I already mentioned, or the fact that you can have the system automatically create a blog for new users that register themselves via the community registration page, but I'll write more about these in the future.  And don't hesitate to ask me in the comments if you want me to write about a specific item!

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