Migration to ExpressionEngine
Last night, I spent a few hours migrating this site from WordPress to ExpressionEngine. I made the decision long ago, perhaps nearly two years back. But I haven’t found the time to make it happen until now. Plus, I had a couple of failed starts in the past because the migration process between these two systems isn’t exactly simple. Finally, I pushed through and managed to import all posts and comments into EE in one fell swoop. There was some clean-up after that, but it was mostly straightforward. It was certainly easier that attempting to move the WordPress entries to the EE database manually. :)
So now I’m all set here. I’ll outline a few items that I did in the process.
- Uploaded ExpressionEngine Core 1.6.4 into a subfolder and ran the install process
- Added “Articles” weblog and custom fields
- Imported posts and comments from WP into weblog entries and comments using mt-import.php
- Switch URL word separator to dash (-)
- Threw some SQL at the database to update the imported records from underscore to dash
- Learned a lesson about importing: switch URL word separator to dash and then import
- Converted the WordPress “theme” into EE templates
- Moved entries that were WP “pages” into EE template (static) pages
- Moved WP files in subfolder and moved EE files into main folder
- Updated all paths in EE to reflect new base path
- Removed index.php from the URL structure (.htaccess)
- Added Rewrite rules to help traffic to old links find the right place in the new URL structure
- Repaired several markup and style issues and performed general cleanup
- Added categories (None were transferred during the import)
- Update nav to use EE template tags for category list
- Added archive template
- Fixed midsection to reflect archive and latest comments
- Updated Gravatar support
- Fixed and tweaked many small items, like <title> structure, pagination, etc.
- Decided to make sure all this works by publishing something
- Published this
If you have any specific questions about the process, let me know. If you are interested in moving your site from WordPress to ExpressionEngine, I think you’ll find the search results online now render much better results than in the past.
Tagged: expressionengine, wordpress, ee, wp, import, export, migrate, site, cms
Sean S
2008-07-08 0917hrs
Great job, David. Thanks for logging the process here, too. I’m sure this will prove a valuable resource for many looking to migrate from WordPress.
I must say, your site feels _much_ speedier and responsive now.
Great job making it all seamless!
Derek Allard
2008-07-08 1006hrs
Well played sir! Welcome to the dark underbelly of the internet ;)
David Russell
2008-07-08 1100hrs
Sean S Thanks! And I haven’t even turned on caching or compression yet. ;)
Derek Allard This dark underbelly is a warm home for me. Thanks for all you continue to do with this wonderful product. On pins and needles for EE2. :)
Chip Dizard
2008-07-10 0727hrs
Hi David,
I want to move my blog from Squarespace and another church site I am designing to EE. I have read many reviews, but I am open source guy—Joomla and Drupal. How is your experience with EE. I love your blog, I found it from the National Church.
David Russell
2008-07-10 1122hrs
Chip I love ExpressionEngine. While there are some options of EE that aren’t completely free, it is still very much open source. In fact, like Drupal, the community and extensibility of EE are crucial its success.
More than anything, I love the fact that EE allows me to granularize my content into any number of ways imaginable through custom fields. EE is set up to manage content very efficiently.
Another great aspect is that EE only produces what you put into it. It will never “take over” and inject code without your intent. For some that can be a downside, because EE isn’t exactly plug and play. Where my dad could install WordPress and have a site running fairly easily, EE takes some TLC from a good web designer to really hone. But if you are putting together sites with Drupal and Joomla now, EE should be a cinch after a couple of weeks looking over the documentation.
In my opinion, it is the greatest content management system in the world and I give it my highest recommendation.
Zack Rippy
2008-07-11 0940hrs
Hey David,
Thanks for the write-up. EE is something I’ve been casually looking into and following for a while now - especially since you really sang its praises last year. :)
I think eventually (hopefully sooner rather than later), we’ll move our church site over. I’ve never really thought about using it for my personal blog, but you’ve piqued my interest in the possibility for sure. :)
Anyways, thanks for the interesting / informative post.
Zack
David Russell
2008-07-11 2015hrs
Zack You are welcome to a tour of our control panel anytime. Our EE source is also open to you if you want to use it as a base to build something for ET. Let me know how I can help!
And I certainly think EE is well-qualified to run your personal site as well. I’m loving it here. :)
Carl Thomas
2008-07-12 0823hrs
In a practical sense, what did you gain by switching? I know a lot of tech guys like to use new platforms simply because it is different. Can you let us know what the advantage of EE is?
Zack Rippy
2008-07-14 0909hrs
Hey David,
Thanks for the offer. I know you and I have talked about that in the past. So far, we just haven’t made the move, but I think within the next 3 months or so, we will finally do it. I really want to streamline everything about our IT operations, and moving to something like EE will be a huge help.
Trust me, I’ll definitely be taking you up on it sooner rather than later. :)
Thanks!