My Long Journey from WordPress to ExpressionEngine

About the time I started my new job at Viget Labs in December 2009, I decided that it was time to start working on a redesigned website. This redesign was a chance for me to play around with some of the new CSS3 properties, @font-face, & jQuery.

My first three designs have also been very white, so I wanted to try something a little different.

Version 1 Version 2 Version 3

I wanted to go with a dark background, and I wanted to be able to change the feel of the site very easily. So by changing the background color in the stylesheet, I can completely change how the site feels. Check it out with red, green, or purple. All that is done by just simply changing the background color on the body.

Another big step in this redesign is finally transitioning to ExpressionEngine. My first experience with content management systems began with WordPress, and I had a good run with it, but I felt like it was time to transition to a “real” CMS. Let me just say that going transferring posts form WordPress to ExpressionEngine was a huge pain in the butt.

ExpressionEngine can import a Movable Type format, but WordPress cannot export into that format. There are various scripts on the web that can convert WordPress to Movable Type, but all of them are outdated. So I decided to approach it by installing Movable Type on my server, importing the WordPress file, and then exporting the Movable Type file. Unfortunately, that process doesn’t work that smoothly, and Movable Type kept failing to import the WordPress file. After much searching, I finally found an AIR application that can convert from WordPress to Movable Type format.

So after some cleanup of the posts, I was finally ready to launch. I haven’t looked at the site in IE yet, and I’m sure there will be some broken URLs, but I will get to that eventually.

I’m also hoping to get back to posting articles more regularly here, so stay tuned.

Some Other Notes

  • Headings are using Aller & being displayed with @font-face.
  • Thanks go out to my friend Nate Eagle for helping to write my about page.
  • Thanks also go out to Erik Reagan for helping me with some last minute htaccess rules

3 Comments

Jim Arment

07.11.2010

Everything looks great!

I started reading some of your posts when you got hired at Viget. And have really enjoyed your work. Keep it up and, again, the new look is rockin’!

Trevor

07.12.2010

@Jim-
Thanks! I’m glad that you have enjoyed my posts, and hopefully there will be more to come soon!

Charlotte A. Voight

07.12.2010

Trevor, you do amazing work. I’m not sure I understand all you have written because it is in a different “language” than I’m used to , if you know what I mean. I am very impressed with all that you have done. I had a little taste of programming and that was enough for me. But you have gone far above that and I am proud of your achievements.  Congratulations on a great site!
Love
Gma3

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