MovableType Styles

The default set of templates that come with MovableType make extensive use of the stylesheet "styles-site.css". It's possible, by manipulating only the stylesheet, to achieve dramatically different looks for a site based on the default templates.

MT's default CSS is far from trivial, nor is it documented anywhere that I can find. It requires an investment of time to understand. My original "Tip" was to invest that time understanding the default CSS.

With the 3.2 release of MT, the default styles increased in complexity by an order of magnitude. If you're alreay CSS conversant, and have the time, understanding exactly how these styles work may be worth your time. However I can no longer recommend it for the average user.

So, I now have two tips:

Keep using the default styles, but make only minimal changes. One approach might be StyleCatcher, an MT plugin that allows you to select a style from a collection of styles in real time. As long as you use the default templates and styles, you can change the look and feel of your blog completely - with a mouse click or two. My site Taming Email uses a StyleCatcher style.

Start from scratch. This'll require a little more understanding not of the styles, but of the MT templating syntax. The basics are relatively simple, but the total templating language is very powerful and flexible. The style sheet and templates for this site, for example, are extremely simple, very clean, and much less confusing than the default MT templates.

Posted April 23, 2006