MovableBlog: Thoughts on a Plugin Manager
January 22, 2003
A friend and I were discussing the level of computer knowledge one needed to install and customize MT, much less do some of the more advanced stuff (like using PHP and MT, hacking the MT code, etc.). We agreed that the level of skill required to add plugins to MT was slightly above that of the average MT user. (Of course, I recognize the risk of misunderestimating the average MT user base.) Basically we felt that beyond templates, the average user was flying blind when it came to hacks and plugins.
Well, perhaps no more. If plugins were a way for Ben and Mena to allow users (read: programmers) extend MT and (as I suspect) let them concentrate more on the backend and design of things rather than worry about tags, then the proposed plugin manager (see here and here for updates, and watch, as I will, the development at this site) will give users (read: ordinary bloggers) a user-friendly tool to manage plugins. The only thing I'm not so sure about is the centralized aspect of the 'official site' for plugins: maybe the official site would point to links to plugins not on the official site's server? Anyway, a minor quibble. As a recent convert to plugins, and since I still find installation difficult—it's always a pain, not being a Unix nerd (although I want to be, really!), to have to untar, unzip, and place plugins in the appropriate directories—I'm excited about a manager which will facilitate installation and use of plugins.
I wouldn't have known about the plugin manager if it hadn't been for my being on the mt-dev mailing list. Just so you know, I barely know what they're talking about half the time.