This Ordinary Life

Well, the technology that sits behind the blogging phenomenon is getting more sophisticated by the data. I was slow to follow the curve, but now am too putting technology to good use. For instance, this entry is being written with help of ScribeFire, the blogging editor add-on in FireFox. I have to admit that it does make blogging a lot more fun and less code intensive. Apologies go out to my "alignright", "aligncentre" and "alignleft" image style classes, but you all knew it was only a matter of time before you had to go.

After installing ScribeFire, I decided the next logical step would be to update my Movable Type interface to the latest version. I had been working on v3.34, so a full generational jump to 4.2.1 made me giddy with delight. Movable Type's website had very simple instructions to do the update...

1. Make a backup of your database - Whenever you are making a change to your system such as this, it is always considered wise to make a backup of your data just in case you need to undo anything you might have done.
2. Download Movable Type - Once you have backed up your system, download Movable Type to your web server.
3. Unzip Movable Type - Using your preferred unzipping software, unpack the Movable Type archive onto your file system.
4. Copy Movable Type's Files Over Your Old Installation - Copy all of Movable Type's files over your old installation of Movable Type.
5. Login to Movable Type - The first time you access Movable Type, the system will detect the new version of MT installed on your system and take you through the automated process of upgrading your database. When this process is complete, you will be able to begin using Movable Type immediately.  The first time you access the application, you may need to "shift-reload" your browser in order to clear the cache for your css, javascript and images. Doing so will fix any display abnormalities you may experience upon first logging in.

Well, I did all of this and ended up with an interface that was text only and destroyed any "new and whizzy" experience I was going to have.  It also broke the link with ScribeFire, basically making it almost impossible to do anything with my blog. Luckily for me, I followed Step 1 very closely and made sure I backed up all of the files powering my blog.  Even more lucky was that when I copied the v3.34 backup files back onto my server after almost having a coronary that I'd lost this blog, everything went back to the way it was and I was back in business. Whew!

However, I have left a post on the Movable Type Installation Forum and hope that someone will either:

• Explain to me what went wrong and how to fix it; or
• Explain how to do a clean install of v4.2 and the most efficient means of copying my custom templates and archived entries into this.

Any ideas?