Introducing Melody. .

Given that Melody is derived from Movable Type, we expect the first question many will ask us is, “What is the difference between Melody and Movable Type?” The answer right now is frankly: not much. In fact our focus initially is consciously not about features, but rather upon laying the groundwork through a well-documented set of processes by which future features and contributions can be made. Without this fundamental ability Melody cannot be successful. The real question is how will Melody will differentiate itself from Movable Type six to twelve months from now once the community has begun actively contributing to the platform. And that is not up to us. That is up to you and your fellow community members!

Coming Soon

Us not having features ready for users today is not to say that we don’t have a plan for Melody, or features we want to build. We do. But central to our immediate plan is growing and expanding the existing Movable Type community by building bridges to other successful developer communities outside our own, like the greater CPAN and jQuery communities, and by working with them to incorporate the outstanding work they are already doing. This is a priority because we can’t do this alone. We need help from as many people as possible, especially from those expert in fields outside of Movable Type. A corollary to that is to be successful we also need more people building on top of the product — not just on the product itself. That means we need to embrace those components and libraries that have greater mind-share than the ones we rely on today or the ones we could build ourselves.

Next, we expect many Movable Type users will have concerns and questions having to do with backwards compatibility; or in other words “Will the work the Melody community is engaged in break any of the plugins or themes I have come to rely on?” Luckily it is in everyone’s mutual interest that we remain as compatible with Movable Type as humanly possible because we want to make sure that developers can continue build great applications, themes and plugins that benefit both communities.

Getting Involved

The last question we hope you are asking is, “How can I help?” The first thing anyone can do is show their support by blogging about the Melody project, by becoming a fan on Facebook, following us on Twitter, and joining the mailing list. Seriously, just being in a room full of friends will make our work that much more enjoyable. Developers on the other hand can help by getting their hands dirty. In the coming weeks we will be working with the community to identify the set of features and changes we would like to see for the first release of Melody, due this Fall, and mapping those features to people with the will and ability to help implement them. So if you are a developer and would like to help, join our mailing list. There is more than enough work to go around.