Background
I've wanted to do this for many moons and I finally did it yesterday. If you've been meaning to do it as well, you might be able to benefit from my hard work. :-)
What is it that I am referring to so craftily? Just a simple Movable Type Open Source template or two. The base install of MTOS includes monthly archives, but those include post excerpts and can be laborious to browse through.
How to actually set it up
I first created an index file that contained title links to every blog post, but that was unwieldy for big blogs that span many years. Yearly indexes are the right choice for those, in my opinion.
To set this up, I first create an empty "Entry Listing" archive template called "Yearly Indexes" and then save it. After its saved, MTOS then let's me create an archive mapping under template options. I choose yearly from the drop-down menu and then click add.
The template itself is an adaptation of my original site index and the monthly archives template MTOS comes with. It can be found here.
I'm not done yet! I then go into the widgets listing and edit the "Archive Widgets Group" and add this:
<mt:IfArchiveTypeEnabled archive_type="Yearly">
<$mt:Include module="Yearly Archive Links"$>
</mt:IfArchiveTypeEnabled>
I don't have to create the Yearly Archive Links template module for every blog I set this up on because I've saved it as a Global Template Module. Handy, eh?
The one I use is available here.
After that, I'm good to go and I rebuild the site!
