MovableBlog: Archives: TypePad

August 3rd, 2003

TypePad: A Review »

Let's start this off with a disclaimer, shall we? I have an emotional attachment to Movable Type, having used it daily since October 2001, so I'm necessarily biased towards it and its creators, Ben and Mena Trott. I also think Anil Dash is a funny guy.

I'll post links to other TypePad reviews here. Feel free to Trackback this post if you have a review.

• Richard Silverstein compares TypePad to Blogger.
• MyTypePad.com
• TypePad Launched Today . . . uh. . . Yesterday
• Liz Sabater reviews TypePad's customer service
• UtterlyBoring.com: TypePad's Features and Prices Have Been Set
• introverting.nu: TypePad Review
• Nicest of the Damned: TypePad hands-on review

First the not-so-good, then the good.

I had the full-meal deal when using the TypePad Beta, so I'm unfamiliar with the experiences of those who chose the Basic or Plus versions at the outset. Looking at the features list, I'm a little surprised that some things that I take for granted in the free version of Movable Type (like per-post options and search & replace) are not in the Basic version of TypePad. Also, Anil, in the title element of his link to the TypePad features, notes that he pays more to host his site than it costs to host at TypePad.com. Well, it would cost more for me to host at TypePad with the level of service I get at Verve Hosting: $10 a month gets me the same 200 MB as TypePad Pro but with email accounts up the wazoo, CGI, addon domains, and 10 GB of bandwidth. Now, granted, I have to setup MT my damn self, or, if I wasn't sufficiently technically inclined, get someone else to do it. The whole point of TypePad is to avoid the installation and configuration hassles. So it's for the reasons that a) I currently pay less to get more, and that the free version of MT does what I need it to that I'm hesitant to move to TypePad. (Of course, there are extras in TypePad that aren't in MT, and hopefully these extras make their way into future versions of MT, pay or otherwise.)

However, and this is a pretty big however, there are a ton of webloggers and potential webloggers who are not as technically inclined as myself, and TypePad is very well suited to them. Here's why:

• TypePad looks pretty. Looks matter when it comes to many things, and user interfaces are no exception.
• The template design mechanism is not only easy, but kinda fun. Want a columns instead of 2? Change an option. Want the 'About Me' higher on the sidebar? Drag and drop. Want a bottle of Coke to beat the heat? Well, TypePad can't help you there.
• Photo albums are very easy. Integrates well with a TypePad blog. This is restricted to Plus and Pro versions, which is also not what I expected. But the $8.95/month price to get photo albums integrated with a weblog publishing system is not outrageous.

Features I didn't try:

• FOAF generation, but that's because I generate my FOAF file by hand. Shut up.
• TypeLists and Amazon wishlist integration. Never got around to trying them, but they sound like jolly good ideas.

Posted by Richard at 01:36 PM | TrackBacks (7) | Comments (11)