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December 16, 2004
TypeKey is a total failure
One of the great things about Movable Type is that you don't have to know all that much to set it up. Sure, the chances of it for some reason assume your archives will go in a given place have about a 90 percent chance of being wrong, but that's easy to fix once you get logged in. Even if you can't handle it by yourself, Six Apart's support forums have some really sharp minds that can get you up and running.
TypeKey is everything that Movable Type is not. It's a simple enough concept: A one-stop shop to get a persistent, semi-verified identity that will let you comment on anyone's weblog. In practice, it's a lot different. It's way more trouble than it's worth.
Here's an obvious example of what makes it confusing:
Questions:
1. Why is the token (ostensibly, your identity) with the list of weblogs you wish to use it on? It seems to me that the token and the list of weblogs shouldn't be included. You can't change the identity, hence it's not a preference. Your preference doesn't really matter, because you get what they give you.
2. What's with the text? I like to think that I'm a reasonably smart guy, but that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Do I put in the full address to Movable Type? Should it just point to my site? It says application, but it's hardly explicit about it. Now, does it go to the actual mt.cgi or just to the directory that contains it?
Suppose you make sense out of all that, and you put in the necessary information. Then suppose something doesn't work. There's no help page available from the TypeKey site. When you try to submit a comment and something's not set up correctly, they let you know with this incredibly informative message:
The site you're trying to comment on has not signed up for this feature. Please inform the site owner.
Seeing as how I'm the site's owner, that's kind of worthless. I don't know what to do about it, and I have no simple place to go to find out.
If I do want support, there's no real FAQ on the TypeKey site. The only thing there is just information about what TypeKey does. If you want support, you have to go to the main TypeKey site and then there's a link to a support form.
Maybe I'm old school, but there's an old adage on the Internet that this brings to mind: RTFM. Unfortunately, since there is no manual (or relevant FAQ), it makes it kind of hard.
Being a spoiled Mac user, reading the manual is something I've begrudgingly learned to force myself to do. When you use a Mac, it's not something you often find yourself needing to do. I know they're Mac fans at Six Apart, and they've done great work to make Movable Type as simple as they can, but they dropped the ball on this. If you can't make intuitive, the least you can do is include a good manual.
I know I could look this up on Google or fill out the support form, but that's not the point. The point is that it's sort of ridiculous that I have to do that at all. When I have the time, I will look for support elsewhere on the Web. But I shouldn't have to.
In the meantime, comments are shut off because I'm getting spammed.
Posted by Chris Coleman at December 16, 2004 12:45 PM