Forum Moderators: phranque
I have a quick question about CMS systems like Drupal and Joomla:
What is required to convert an existing site to a CMS site? In other words, if I have a hand-coded, valid html/php site, how easy is it to load it into the CMS framework? Or will I have to rewrite it?
Thanks...
All existing pages need to be mapped to the new pages via 301's redirects, or custom urls in the CMS need to be done to maintain the old ones. The complexity of this task is dependent on the CMS and the size of the site being converted - in my case "only" about 400 pages.
Nearing the end of doing exactly this (with no small amount of trepidation I might add), it is a major task.
If I may ask, is it a lot of work because of the size of your site, or is it a lot of work because it is a PITA in general?
Do you have to re-code the pages in the CMS, or do you do a 301 for your existing pages so the CMS displays them in its framework?
Part of what I am trying to answer concerns offering a CMS solution to a client. If it is a lot of work to import an existing site, the better option would seem to be to create the site in the CMS in the first place.
Forgive me for my ignorance -- I know web dev but I know very little about CMS systems.
Part of what I am trying to answer concerns offering a CMS solution to a client. If it is a lot of work to import an existing site, the better option would seem to be to create the site in the CMS in the first place.Forgive me for my ignorance -- I know web dev but I know very little about CMS systems.
Maintenance and navigation on my existing site was becoming unamanageable. It had grown in too many directions over too many years - all without a plan of course. It finally reached a tipping point where I am willing to risk rankings on hundreds of niiche terms in order to get it under control. (I expect that the rankings will return with time, but I am fully prepared to see them tank in the short term no matter what steps I take to minimize the problems:()
Conversion, in this case, was pretty much like creating an entirely new site, but the copy did not need to be rewritten - oh some editing and updates here and there, but nothing major. That was a simple cut and past operation for the most part.
In my case the navigation structure was completely revamped (with a plan to future growth this time), and the site template was updated. All in all it is a postive improvement on all counts, and future maintanence and growth will be much easier.
Given the choice, starting with a CMS would be preferable. The conversion is not as hard as it is time consuming. There is not a simple solution to pulling copy from an html page and dumping it into a database (or flat file) system.
