converting URLs from numbers to more indicative names

This has been long overdue. When I look at my webstats pages (generated nightly), it’s become well-nigh impossible to know what a URL represents if it’s called 0001454.html. So I looked at a couple of articles on how this can be done and found it was surprisingly easy.

In fact, it’s so easy and sensible, I wish this had been a config option in the default install of MovableType.

First off, read the articles linked above. The explanations there are better than I can do, so take advantage of them.

Then, download the amazing MT-IfEmpty plugin and install it (a simple matter of copying two files).

I ended up with a hybrid approach, using some of the stuff I picked up in both articles: my individual article naming scheme looks like this:
<$MTArchiveDate format="%Y/%m/%d"$>/<MTIfEmpty var="EntryKeywords"><$MTEntryTitle dirify="1"$></MTIfEmpty><MTIfNotEmpty var="EntryKeywords"><$MTEntryKeywords$></MTIfNotEmpty>.html

I like to use file extensions as navigational aids, so Mark’s approach wasn’t for me.

At this point, you simple rebuild all files and voila: your new archive style is in effect, all links in your pages point to the new pages you just made, and your old pages are intact for those who have bookmarked them.

[Posted with ecto]