UThink Upgrade

UThink upgraded!

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:44:17 -0600

Hello everyone! This will be a quick note (since we've been at this for quite a while): UThink has been updated successfully! We are in the process of rebuilding all the blogs, which will take all night, but for the average user UThink is now fully upgraded and using Movable Type 4.25.

A couple of things to keep in mind:

If you have an older blog (a blog created before June 15, 2009) and you try to use the new features of UThink (like tagging or the new styles) your blog will not be able to handle this new functionality properly. An older blog will still be using the old MT 3.* templates, so it won't have the correct template tags to display tags, for example. To fix this problem, to bring your blog up to speed using MT 4.25 templates, you may follow these instructions. Warning! Updating your templates to the new MT 4.25 templates will probably remove any customizations you have on your blog! So be careful when using these instructions!

Secondly, there is a whole lot of instructions and new documentation located on the UThink Technical FAQ Wiki. It is my hope that some of your most basic questions will be answered by all the updated documentation on this wiki. So check it out! And if you've got something to add, feel free!

And while I say that UThink has upgraded successfully, there most definitely could still be some problems. I haven't had time to look at all 7,892 individual blogs on the system yet. We are aware that there still could be some problems and we will do our best to fix those problems as soon as we are made aware of them.

Of course, if you have any questions regarding your blog, or regarding this upgrade and all the new functionality, please let me know at uthink@umn.edu. I honestly don't know what to expect regarding the volume of questions I will receive ... could be a lot, could be a little. Whatever the case, I am expecting some, so fire away.

I'd like to thank the JaWS programmers who made this upgrade possible: Douglas Lochowski-Haney and Alina Rimbu! Thanks a ton guys! You've done some great work!

Also, the upgrade of UThink would not have been possible without a generous grant provided by the College of Liberal Arts Student Technology Fee Committee. Thank you!

Again, if you have any questions, fire away! Happy blogging!

UThink upgrade schedule

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:39:46 -0600

Hello UThink users! We are upgrading the UThink system today to Movable Type 4.25. Here is a high level breakdown of what will be happening today:

Monday morning (6/15), access to the Movable Type will be cut off. Blogs are still accessible, but no commenting or editing will work.
During the day, probably early afternoon, work will be done to get the data transferred and upgraded and all the new code in place.
Sometime during the day, we will cut of access to the blogs as well as Movable Type and run the upgrade script.
If all is successful, we switch the DNS so that "blog.lib.umn.edu" points at the new Movable Type configuration. We may also create a new alias at "uthink.lib.umn.edu."
If the the upgrade has finished without any complications, we let people through to both the new UThink/Movable Type and the blogs.

Please note: we are hopeful that this upgrade can be finished today, but please be prepared for this process to take longer. The UThink upgrade could take until Tuesday morning, depending on the complications we run into (and rebuilding all these blogs takes time).

Thanks for your patience everyone. We are excited to finally bring Movable Type 4.25 to all of you. As always, please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

UThink to be upgraded Monday, June 15

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:42:22 -0600

Hello UThink users! I've got good news (or bad news if you prefer MT 3)! UThink is going to be officially upgraded on Monday, June 15 starting early in the morning. We hope to finish the upgrade process as soon as possible Monday morning, but UThink could be down for most of the day. It is unlikely, but please be prepared for that possibility.

Why June 15th? According to the academic calendar it is the first day of the 2009 Summer term. If we don't do it now, we will probably have to wait until August to minimize disruption.

We have spent the past three months getting ready for this upgrade. All of the issues and problems we have identified in the previous entry and in other forums have either been addressed or fixed. This upgrade won't be without its own problems, but we are confident we have prepared the system as best we can. Of course, as is the case with many application unveilings, you don't learn about all the problems until users start using the system for real. Again, though, we are hopeful that we will have as seamless upgrade as possible.

Having said that, there will be some issues, especially for those of you with existing blogs:

Existing blogs will not have all the functionality of Movable Type 4. This is because existing blogs are currently using templates developed in MT 3. Existing blogs will function fine in the new system and will fully migrate, but new features like tagging or page creation or custom fields will not work unless the existing blog templates are modified to include the tags that make the new functionality work.

Having said that, I am going to spend this week writing as much documentation as possible on how to make the most out of the new functionality available. I am going to put most of this documentation both on this blog and on the Technical FAQ Wiki Of course, since it is a wiki, it is my hope that after the upgrade other UThink users will feel compelled to write other how-to's about the new UThink functionality. Feel free!

The current functionality of MT 3 will be retained in MT 4, however in many cases it will work differently, or it will be administratively found in different locations within the interface. For example, this is most definitely true of the BlogRoller functionality (the functionality many people use to create lists of links to favorite web sites on their blog homepages). Again, documentation will be prepared to address as many of these issues as possible.

At this time I'd like to thank Alina Rimbu and Douglas Lochowski-Haney of OIT Academic Computing for making this upgrade happen. Thanks guys! It has been a pleasure to work with you both!

I'd also like to thank the College of Liberal Arts Student Technology Fee Committee for the grant that made this upgrade possible. UThink would not be going through an upgrade without this financial assistance, and I sincerely appreciate the committee's belief in the merits of the project. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you!

Again, Monday June 15th the UThink blog system will be upgraded. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Testing: Problems that have surfaced

Tue, 26 May 2009 10:42:28 -0600

Hello everyone! First of all, thanks to everyone that has tested the system so far. A number of problems have been found thanks to your diligence. Please let me know ASAP if you find anymore problems!

Overall, testing has gone well. I think the bulk of the new functionality has been working as expected. There has just been a few things that have, again, surfaced as true bugs.

Guest Internet IDs don’t seem to be working
System Overview -> Select a new Blog – shows all blogs, should only show user’s blogs
Add users screen – Choices for user permissions are being cut off.
Conversion problems

Blogs that use the comments popup need to be automatically switched to point at the Individual Archive Template. The popup will no longer work in MT 4.2.
Page creation on existing blogs is buggy. In fact, the system doesn't seem to publish a new page at all. On new MT 4.2 blogs pages publish fine.
Removal of the old captcha plugin script is problematic in some blogs. It removes the captcha javascript, and also most of the comment form, including the submit button.

There seems to be a problem with the "Action Stream" blog type. What this blog type is supposed to do is show a record of all the user's activity on the system. So, if you have three blogs and post in all them, the Action Stream should show all the activity on these three blogs. Right now, the Action Stream is flat out buggy. We'll look into it, but we may need to drop this blog type for now.
On "Community Blogs" commenting seems to be broken. Brings up the error: "Text was entered wrong"
Lots of bugs and confusion regarding the Privacy Plugin feature (this plugin should help make blogs private to only listed U of M Internet IDs). We will definitely try to fix these issues.

Finally, there are three plugins I'd also like to have installed before we launch:

Template Exporter (http://plugins.movabletype.org/template-exporter/)
Image Gallery (http://plugins.movabletype.org/image-gallery/ … I’ve also asked about pricing for BlogShow -- http://plugins.movabletype.org/blogshow-mt/)
Custom Field Search (http://plugins.movabletype.org/customfieldssearch/)

Those should make the new UThink even better. Let me know if any other plugins look worth while.

Finally, as you might have noticed, we have pushed back our date to officially make the upgrade. I am hopeful we can make the switch in the next two weeks, depending on how quickly we can fix all these problems.

Thanks again to everyone that is testing the new system! Let me know if you find any more issues!

Testers needed

Fri, 15 May 2009 08:32:12 -0600

Hello everyone! As many of you probably know, we are planning on upgrading the wonder that is UThink at the end of this month (May). Exciting times! Anyway, the system is "good enough" that I would greatly appreciate if some of you would test it out.

I have already contacted a bunch of people to test existing blogs in the system to make sure that they transfer properly when we finally go live. However, I really need people to test the creation of new blogs, new entries, and to try all the new blog/site types we have (Classic blog, Community blog, Professional website, Forum).

So, would you be willing to test this beast out? If so, contact me at uthink@umn.edu.

There are some known issues so far:

Creating "Pages" within existing blogs does not seem to work. "Pages" in new blogs seems to work great.
Guest Internet IDs do not seem to work.
Creating private blogs is a little (actually a lot) buggy. In fact, you may just want to ignore that for now.

Also, due to new functionality within Movable Type (the software that runs UThink) we will now be publishing all blogs through SSL (https). There are pros and cons with this, but it is what it is. Most systems at the U that require x.500 (U of M Internet ID) integration are published through SSL. Unfortunately, UThink can no longer be an exception.

So, again, let me know if you'd like to be a tester. We hope to upgrade at the end of May, so there isn't much time left to get this right! Thanks!

Custom Fields are going to be interesting

Mon, 11 May 2009 09:04:33 -0600

Hello everyone! The UThink upgrade is still progressing nicely and is on schedule for the end of the month. We will soon be contacting some pre-selected testers to give the new interface a whirl and try to identify problems that need to be fixed. Exciting times!

Speaking of exciting, there is a new feature in UThink/Movable Type that deserves some further investigation: Custom Fields. Custom Fields will allow users to create their own input fields for their blogs and web sites. There are some fields that come standard in any new UThink site: Entry Title, Entry Body, Extended Entry, etc. But a lot of times you are creating a blog or web site with a very specific need in mind. For example, what if you wanted to create a site for music reviews? Well, you would probably like some fields for "Album Cover" or "Album review" or any other kind of fields around the idea of reviewing music. With Custom Fields you will be able to create new fields to match your data needs.

Here is another example. Being a librarian, I read a fair number of books and I almost always check those books out from a library (As a side note, did you know that the U of M Libraries is the 17th largest library in the country? You've got access to a lot of good books! I'm just sayin' ...). What I would like to do is create a site to review the books I read. As part of that site I'd like to document the Library Location and Call Number of the book I've read so I can keep track of where I am getting most of my books from. So, using Custom Fields I could create a field to do that. Check out the image below (click on it to make it bigger):

Not too shabby, heh? In fact, I am under the impression that a person could use Custom Fields to completely change how data is entered into Movable Type. A person could probably use Custom Fields to create all sorts of unique data types, and then alter the entry creation form to show only those new fields. That way, instead of a blog you could conceivably create an online database.

That is my impression. As I say above, this new functionality will need some further investigation. But the potential is certainly there. For more information about Custom Fields please see:

Custom Fields documentation
Custom Field Use-Cases

As always, let me know if you have any questions or comments!

Other UThink enhancements

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:16:46 -0600

Hello everyone! I thought you all might be interested in a some thoughts on other enhancements that have not been discussed in much detail yet that will come with the UThink upgrade. Namely enhancements to asset managment, commenting functionality, and private blogging.

With the current version of UThink, asset managment is weak, at best. You can upload any file that you want, but manipulating that file, or even finding it again on the server after you've uploaded it, is another story. With the UThink upgrade, Movable Type 4 has vastly improved asset management capabilities. With MT 4 you can keep track of all your uploads, and filter them by file type such as video, audio, or image. You can also describe your assets, tag them, and delete them if necessary. Check out the image below for a little snapshot into the capabilities:

Click for larger image

Managing comments within MT 4 is also improved. Within the current version of UThink (MT 3), you could either moderate comments, or let all comments through automatically (with a heavy dose of spam filtering brought to you by some MT plugins we've added). Now, with MT 4 you will still have the ability to moderate comments or let all comments through, as well tying comments to the U of M Internet ID and password system (aka "x.500"). In other words, we have modified MT 4 to give you the ability to require that only comments from U of M students, faculty, and staff can get through. You can mark any Internet ID as a "trusted commenter" or you can let all Internet IDs post comments by choosing "Any authenticated commenters." Here is a snapshot of the functionality:

Click for larger image

Finally, and having to do with authenticating commenters through the U of M Internet ID and password system, is the ability to create private blogs. In the current UThink system you can create a private blog through Apache web server directory level passwords, or through PHP. In MT 4 we are building the ability to create a private blog using the U of M Internet ID and password system. In other words, we are making it so that as a blog owner you can choose which Internet IDs will be given the ability to see the content of your blog. We hope to do this through the MT 4 interface in order to make this as easy to implement as possible. Unfortunately I don't have any snapshots of this functionality yet, but be rest assured it will be awesome!

Of course, let me know if you have any questions or comments!

What does it take to upgrade Movable Type?

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:20:50 -0600

What does it take to upgrade Movable Type? Well, I'm glad you asked. Actually it takes a lot. There are a number of details to take care of, especially considering UThink is probably the largest academic install of Movable Type 3 in America. Let's talk about a few of those details:

Currently there are over 7,700 blogs on the UThink system and almost 130,000 individual entries. We have to make sure all those blogs and entries are updated properly. This requires a lot of testing and migration trials to make sure we have everything right.

There are about 15 plugins on the UThink system that we installed over the past 5 years to increase the functionality of Movable Type. This includes plugins like BlogRoller (to create a list of links on your blog home page) and MT-Enclosures (to enable podcasting functionality on the system). Unfortunately, most of the plugins we installed on MT 3 do not work on MT 4. So, we have to track down new plugins and make sure they work with all the data put on the system with the old plugins. So far we have been successful, but we have definitely had to massage some of the data on the system. New plugins on the upgraded system will include "Link Roller," "reCaptcha," and the "Podcasting Plugin," just to name a few.

One of the more unique features of UThink is that it is tied to the U of M Internet ID and password system (x.500). Obviously this functionality does not come "out-of-the-box." So, we have had to take a our old code for central authentication, tweak it a little, and make sure that it works for Movable Type 4. So far so good!

Along those same lines, Movable Type 4 offers a lot of new functionality in terms of the types of web sites you can create through the system: Classic Blogs, Community Blogs, Community Forums, or Professional Websites. Testing this functionality out, and making sure that it works with the U of M Internet ID and password system, plus making sure that people without a U of M Internet ID and password can participate when appropriate, has been a challenge.

Finally, much of the functionality from MT 3 to MT 4 has changed. For example, adding users to a specific blog to allow them to author or manage that blog has changed. The workflow has changed and new code is required to make it work with the Internet ID system. Essentially, rather than adding a new user to Movable Type, we want Movable Type to assume a user has already been created through the U of M. That way when a user is added to the system an account does not need to be created by hand in Movable Type. Make sense? No? Well, regardless, we will have to provide new documentation on this workflow, and other workflows, to make sure UThink users can do what they expect to be able to do.

Over the next few weeks I'll delve into these issues a little more. I just wanted to let all of you know that we are working hard to make sure all your blogs and content is upgraded properly, and that all the functionality you currently have now is also available in the new system.

Of course, let me know if you have any questions!

UThink is being upgraded to Movable Type 4.25!

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:57:42 -0600

Hello everyone! I don't know if you have heard this through the grapevine or not, but UThink is upgrading to Movable Type 4.25. Currently, UThink uses Movable Type 3.33, which is about 2-3 years old. Movable Type 4.25 offers a ton of new features and functionality which should make UThink easier to use and more powerful.

Some of the new features that UThink will gain through Movable Type 4.25 include:

Tagging of entries and uploads
User profile creation including avatars
The ability to create "Pages" or non-blog format content
Vastly improved asset managment for all your uploads
Custom Field creation capabilities
The ability to create display widgets for stuff like tag clouds, recent comments, recent uploads and more
New styles and formats including two and three column designs
Complete user control over imports and exports of blog content
Much, much more

One of the more exciting new features in Movable Type is the ability to create more than just a simple blog. When creating a new site in Movable Type 4.25 you will be given the choice of creating a Classic Blog, a Community Blog, a Community Forum, or a Professional Website. Of course, with all these format choices authors are also given complete control over their content and templates to completely design and configure their new site to meet their needs.

For those of you that are new to Movable Type 4.25, here are some screen shots highlighting some of the new functionality. Click each image for a larger version:

The new "Dashboard"

The new "New Entry" screen. Note WYSIWYG formatting options.

The new "Widgets" screen.

It is our hope to complete the UThink upgrade during the week of May 18. This is after finals and before the start of May Session.

Stay tuned to this blog for more updates and information concerning the upgrade. If you have any questions, please leave a comment or send a message to uthink@umn.edu.