Gadgetopia

Six Apart ProNet - Plugin Directory - Built for 3.2: If you’re on the latest version of Movable Type, take a browse of the plugins built to take advantage of the new API hooks in that version. There’s some really great stuff here:

Ajaxify

Ajaxify is a set of plugins that adds several ajax/javascript widgets into the Movable Type interface. It currently consists of EnhancedEntryEditing - that adds a WYSIWYG editor and resizable textarea controls to the entry screen - and Search Suggestions - that add a “Google Suggest” like feature to the quicksearch box.

Better File Uploader — this has been needed for a long time.

Better File Uploader allows you to create default settings for file uploads. Create default settings to specify a folder to upload to, append year/month/ to the upload path, create a new entry or show HTML, select a thumbnail size, and build photo galleries quicker.

BigTemplateWindow — of course, now that I found Tabinta, I’ve made peace with textareas.

In MT’s template editing window, you can use TAB key, change text font-size, turn on/ff wrapping, and refer/insert all MT tags as well as all tags of installed plugins.

Custom Fields — this would appear to take the place of my hack.

Allows you to define custom fields that will appear on the entry editing screen and author profile screens. This allows you to store far more things about an entry or author for example you can now create complex author profiles.

MT Protect — Wordpress has had this for years.

MT Protect is a plugin that allows you to easily protect entries so only authorized users can read the entry, comments and trackbacks.

Six Apart has plowed a lot of effort into refining the MT plugin architecture — effort that some people felt could have been better spent on new features. I remember a lot of talk last year that version 3 really wasn’t that much different than version 2.

Oh, but it was. Here’s what I said back then:

The real gem of MT3, it turns out, is the new plug-in architecture. Six Apart is very smart — why write a ton of new features when you can just polish up your API, then have your customers write the features for you?

They’re no dummies over there. A big, decentralized group of enthusiastic hackers will always turn out more and better stuff than your in-house development group. Give them a well-realized API, and they will pay you back many times over.