Okay, I've rebuilt the entire old WWdN database, and made significant progress on the relaunch of WWdN:2.0. I owe a HUGE debt of gratitude to Mike Pusateri, who pulled the entire WWdN databse, pre-fuck-up-by-wil, including all the comments and everything, and put it into a 38MB text file for me to import back into WWdN. Thanks to some help from Movable Type support, I was able to put the old entries back online, and add the WWdN:iX entries to the pile. (Don't bother looking at WWdN; they're not in a public directory, yet.)
So this is a HUGE step toward relaunching WWdN, and now I find myself at a bit of a crossroads. I'd like to solicit some advice, if you don't mind, from the bloggers who still read me.
When I return to WWdN: 2.0, I have a couple of options: I can domain-map WWdN to TypePad, so you're visiting wilwheaton.net, but I'm managing the content from TypePad, or I can switch back to MT 3.2, and hope to mimic as much of TypePad's functionality as I can via plug-ins, while duplicating the super-easy WYSIWYG editor with ecto, and something as-yet-undiscovered for Linux.
The thing is, I've grown to REALLY like the TypePad interface over the last several months. The WYSIWYG editor is hawesome, and adding new sections to the right side of my blog (like the synidcation buttons, the book and music recommendations, advertising, etc.) is as simple as clicking a few links and pasting a little bit of code. I really like how easy TypePad has made everything for me; it's allowed me to put my energy into creating content that hopefully doesn't suck, rather than mashing away at annoying code that never seems to validate, anyway.
And that's where this post comes in. If you're an MT 3.2 user, what are your must-have plugins? If you've used them both, is MT 3.2 more or less useful for managing enclosures (for the RFB) than TypePad? Have you been able to make MT 3.2 act as sort of a CMS, the way I've described above? (Please don't bother telling me to use WordPress or Drupal or whatever CMS you totally love. I've done a lot of research, and I've determined that it's going to be MT 3.2 or TypePad.)
There are some changes coming with the redesign that I think you'll all like: no more lame fixed-width fonts and cells, a mobile version, better integration of things like flickr and technorati, and some of the really cool things that we're doing with metroblogging.
I'm still working with my friend on all that stuff, so the re-launch of WWdN isn't going to happen right away (surprise), but I can at least see the soft glow of a new and super-cool website on a distant horizon.
