From the look at the titles of posts in this Basic Installation folder, it looks like I'm in for a very rough ride.

I am completely new to blogging. My provider on offers, and supports, MT. It is not my choice, as I understand it is difficult to use. They say they have installed it for me, and have now referred me here. I have a family homepage. I want to reply the Newsletter page in that url with a blog. I guess that means building a blog and having the family url links point to it; but I really don't know.

Question: What do I do next?

It's true, MT can be tricky for the beginner. If you're new to blogging, you might consider using a hosted service like Typepad, Blogger or Blogspot instead. MT is great if you want to customize your blog all over the place. But if you really just want to get words and pictures on the web, there are easier ways to do it.

You realize you're looking at a support forum, right? Not a "Yay, everything went great!" forum. The sample set is going to be a little bit skewed *grin*



Well, the honest response is, "Use something else. Something you did choose."
Your message almost sounds like you're using the thing under duress. Could you explain that first?

As far as what do to and whether it's going to be hard--assuming you'll be sticking with MT--what are your expectations? For starters, do you plan on just using an existing template/theme, or are you expecting to put together a complete custom layout?

Right this moment, though, I'm agreeing with Sue that you might want to explore a hosted and managed service.

Well, the honest response is, "Use something else. Something you did choose."
Your message almost sounds like you're using the thing under duress. Could you explain that first?

As far as what do to and whether it's going to be hard--assuming you'll be sticking with MT--what are your expectations? For starters, do you plan on just using an existing template/theme, or are you expecting to put together a complete custom layout?

Right this moment, though, I'm agreeing with Sue that you might want to explore a hosted and managed service.
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Hi Sue & Su,
As it turns out, I am using a hosted and managed service - pair.com - who has installed MT4 as a blog folder on the root of my site.

To answer your Qs, I'll start from the start: I've been using Mac since 1971. Using GoLive and then Dreamweaver I've build 2 web sites. I know a *little* HTML. Currently I'm taking an on-line course Internet-based language instruction that requires me to build a blog and fill it with an on-line portfolio of lesson plans, tasks, research, etc. As far as MT goes, my provider Pair.com only supports MT; yes, I realize that isn't the best reason to use MT, but Pair's support has been so good since I signed up in 02; not only that, but I thought I could learn something.

My expectations are to create and start a blog like these:

http://michaellessersiblisite.blogspot.com/

http://www.linkzz.com/

No, I do not want to heavily customize a blog right now. In time I will, as I learn.

I'm confused with a lot of the jargon; for example, it seems that WP 'templates' is what MT calls 'styles', but I might be wrong.

I hope I've answered your Qs.

I got it started. How do I get rid of the little avatar box?

What little avatar box?