Summary Instructions for creating a handy bookmarklet that will allow you to cut down on your Movable Type publishing time.

If you have a blog based on the Movable Type publishing framework (like this one is), you probably spend a lot of time clicking the Publish button. Wouldn't it be nice if you could slice a few seconds out of each build cycle and not have to click that?

It sure would! I wrote this quick bookmarklet to help you out. Drag this link to your browser's bookmark area. It won't work just yet; you need to make a few substitutions.

Here's the URI you just copied as a bookmarklet:

{{http://example.com/mt/mt.cgi}}?__mode=start_rebuild&blog_id={{blog-id}}&next=0&type={{types}}

You'll need to replace the three bracketed parts of the bookmarklet's URI for this to work correctly:

• Replace the first portion with the URI to your Movable Type installation. This should look something like http://example.com/blog/mt/mt.cgi.
• Next, replace the second portion with the Movable Type blog identifer. If you don't know it, you can find it by going to the Manage > Blogs entry in your Movable Type System Overview administrative panel, and then hovering your mouse over the blog of interest. The last parameter on the link is your blog's identifier. (This is also the same number that is the result of using the tag <$mt:BlogId$>.)
• Finally, replace the third portion with a comma-delimited list of the archive and index templates you want to publish. To publish everything, use the string Page,Monthly,Category,Individual,index. The templates will publish in the order that they are listed.

For example, to publish everything on cnn.com with an MT installation at /resources/movable-type/mt.cgi and a blog id of 17, you would use:

http://cnn.com/resources/movable-type/mt.cgi?__mode=start_rebuild&blog_id=17&next=0&type=Page,Monthly,Category,Individual,index

Don't forget to delete the brackets themselves, of course.

Now, when you use the bookmarklet, you will automatically begin the publishing process in whatever window you're in, without having to worry about the usual pesky drop-down. Sweet visible ninjas!