At times, after posting a new entry, you may wish to send email to your readers, to inform them of the new entry. Movable Type makes this easy with its notification system. You can use the mt-add-notify.cgi program to provide a simple ``Notify me when new posts are added'' button, thus automating the process of adding users to your notification list. You can manage this list--either add a new address to your notification list, or delete addresses from that list--in the Edit Notifications section of Movable Type.
Notifications are never sent automatically when you post a new entry. To send a notification to your readers on a particular entry, select that entry for editing. In the Send a notification section, enter the text of the message you would like to send. You can also include the excerpt from your entry, or the entire body of your entry, by checking either of the checkboxes to the right. The message sent to your readers will include a link to the entry, followed by the message that you enter.
Movable Type comes with a simple CGI script designed to let visitors to your site add themselves to your notification list. You can use an HTML form to let visitors enter their email addresses, then submit, which will add them to the notification list. To use this script, insert this HTML code into one of your templates, where you would like the form to appear:
<form method="post" action="<$MTCGIPath$>mt-add-notify.cgi"> <input type="hidden" name="blog_id" value="<$MTBlogID$>" /> <input type="hidden" name="_redirect" value="<$MTBlogURL$>" /> <input name="email" size="20" /> <input type="submit" value="add" /> </form>
Then save the template and rebuild your site.
Note that the ``_redirect'' parameter above must point to a URL that matches with your weblog's site URL (as specified in your weblog configuration). It can refer to any page underneath your weblog site URL and still be valid, but you cannot refer to a different domain for example.
You must also define a verification phrase in your mt.cfg file. The configuration setting is ``EmailVerificationSecret'' and should be a word or phrase that would be difficult for someone to guess.