My transition to WordPress
Last Friday (Oct. 4, 2013) I decided that it was time to retire the Joomla version of my Web site in favor of a self-hosted WordPress site. This was not the first time I tried this. Whenever I tried this something wouldn't feel right so I would go back to Joomla. However, so many of the bloggers I follow use WordPress I knew I couldn't stick with Joomla.
I knew from my prior experience that this can be an easy transition. The steps look something like this.
Install WordPress in a sub-folder of my domain.
Use a WordPress plug-in (I used the FG Joomla to WordPress plugin by Frédéric Gilles) to move my content to WordPress.
Design the WordPress site. (This is where I would get stuck and go back to Joomla.)
Call my service provider and promote the WordPress version to the main directory.
Last Friday I did something wrong and installed the WordPress SQL database over the existing Joomla database. I don't remember what I was trying to accomplish. I remember making several attempts to install WordPress in order to get something "just right." During one of those installations, instead of using a separate SQL database it overwrote my existing Joomla database. All of my data was lost!!
I was lucky because last year I had set up a new SQL database in order to update Joomla. Most of my old content was still in the older database and I was able to migrate that content to WordPress. Then I pulled this year's content from Google's cached copy of my Web site. The process took some time, but I was able to rescue almost everything. And, since I overwrote the Joomla database, I finished the transition this time.
I hope you like the new WordPress version of chadmbarrett.com. I already like this environment a lot better than Joomla. I was able to find a clean and simple front-end that should improve your experience. And, I already like the WordPress site administration features a lot more than I thought I would. For example, I can read everything in the WordPress administration area a lot better than I could read stuff in the Joomla admin. area. The Joomla administration pages were difficult for me to read because the text was small.
Let me know what you think. I'm eager to hear whether you like the new look as much as I do.
Image is taken from http://rushtips.com/how-to-transfer-joomla-to-wordpress