Main menu display options

There are improvements to Movable Type 3.2 throughout the application, but perhaps some of the most striking are visible right on the first page you see when you log into the system: the Main Menu.

For people who contribute content to Movable Type blogs, this is the place where everything starts, and hence we wanted to make it more customizable and convenient.

Quicker Access to Your System

First, users of older versions will notice that there are more links under each blog listed in your system. A better-organized collection of task links now includes one-click access to TrackBacks on any blog, and the target area for the "Create a New Entry" link is bigger and easier to find. Plus, as with all the new features of the Main Menu, there are new color icons that make individual items easier to distinguish and a little bit more spiffy-looking, too.

But what if you've got different designs on the display of menu? Well, the link to customize display options that you've seen earlier on the new listings pages is present on the main menu as well, and you can choose between the new space-saving link layout for each blog or a larger text size with a vertical layout. (As with the entire Movable Type interface, you can always use your browser's text-sizing options to make fonts larger throughout the system as well.)

Once you're in the the display options, you can also choose the order of display of your blogs, either alphabetical (the default), by the order the blogs were created or, what many may find to be the most useful, by the order they were last updated. And any of these options can be displayed in reverse order as well.

Manage Your Whole System

The main menu also gives you direct access to Movable Type's powerful new system administration functions. Direct links to the system-wide listings of weblogs, entries, comments and TrackBacks are one click away, and configuration of plugins, access to system settings, and search and replace are at your fingertips. As always, you can view the activity log and create a QuickPost link from the main menu page as well.

To save space, we've shown only the most recent update to Movable Type news on the new main menu, but you can always visit the system overview page to check out the full text of recent updates. Or as always, you can click through to the Movable Type website itself.

[This is part fourteen in a series called "Our 32 Favorite Features of Movable Type 3.2".]