MT4: Measurable Success

The standard way of presenting information in blogging tools today was virtually defined by Movable Type's innovative user interface touches half a decade ago, with lists of blogs and entries and comments taking a position of prominence. Those lists were backed by a few utility screens for managing things like authors and permissions. But, having led the revolution in blogging since then, we've learned from our community exactly what information helps bloggers make their sites successful. Whether you're aiming for community interaction or simply to get the highest possible number of readers, we thought there was a better way to present insights into how your blogs are succeeding.

It's become clear: Serious bloggers don't just need raw data on the entries they've written -- you need understanding into what your audience wants.

As a result, Movable Type 4's most immediate improvement is the pervasive use of smart data displays, starting with the powerful new Dashboard. the Dashboard is topped with an intelligent dynamic chart showing recent commenting and posting activity for one blog or across the unlimited number of blogs that can be published with a single Movable Type instance. A simple click reveals a tag cloud display for one or more blogs, and you can easily explore your own blog entries by tag, for review or as inspiration for new entries. You can even use a range of new plugins to include data like the number of visitors or feed subscribers for your blog, by connecting to popular third-party services like Google Analytics or FeedBurner.

The graph of blog activity isn't merely an attractive way to look at your blog's success; It's also a powerful visual way of understanding what inspires your community of authors and commenters. See a spike in commenting activity recently? Just click and drag to select a range of dates, and the system automatically provides statistics about that subset of information. Point to any individual data point for more details on that day's activity, and then with one click, reveal a list of just the comments during that period of time.

There's far more than can be done with Movable Type 4's new graphical blog reports, especially with the new generation of plugins and system extensions designed to work with MT4. But we think you'll find the immediacy and interactivity of the new user interface compelling right from the first time you log in.

We owe a very special thanks to the MeasureMap team, friends of ours who spun off from the esteemed Adaptive Path team and helped design the excellent new version of Google Analytics. Their date slider widget, released under a Creative Commons license, shows the fantastic potential for collaboration between teams working on open platforms.