P.S. I never said Joomla wasn’t alive-and-kicking… I’ll defer to the last paragraph of this circa-2007 post. From what I’ve heard, Joomla has worked to improve the migration for its original user base, though Joomla is a shell of what it once was.

… unless you just need a blog – then WordPress is a pretty easy way for a “designer” to call themselves a web developer.

Anyway, would be interested in knowing how you’re feeling about the transfer at this point.
-h

The only thing right now that is stopping me from full on running from Joomla is converting a critical component I have from Joomla to WP API. Is there some sort of “API Cookbook” out there? I can’t believe I’m the only one who is trying to do this.

*sigh* – all of this because of lack of backwards compatibility (and NO, Legacy Mode DOES NOT work very well, even for 1.0 extensions that don’t have errors, especially if your solution involves a component AND mambot).

The good news is that WPMU and WordPress proper are set to merge eventually… so no matter which you start with, you’ll be on the same platform. And, unlike Joomla, Automattic leaves no blog behind. Sorry, couldn’t resist.

In terms of functionality, there’s very little that WordPress extensions can’t do, compared to Joomla. Of course, the API is completely different, so your extensions will need considerable re-writing.

I am relieved to see that I’m not the only one who is coming to this conclusion regarding the project overall. The site I am about to deploy cannot easily migrate to J!1.5 due to the sheer number of custom or customized extensions that the site is using. Ironically enough, I don’t really use Joomla for the content, but for the framework (especially the plugin architecture).

I’ve been researching alternatives, and, for my near-future projects, WordPress MU with BuddyPress is lookin’ REALLY good. Anyone have experience with WPMU and BuddyPress? Also, I have Joomla extensions that would need to be reprogrammed in WordPress. Anyone have experience doing this? What’s it like? Thanks!

However, if Joomla can’t keep their userbase on a single platform, it will hurt them in the long run, and they will lose any clear superiority with the passage of time.

The fact that Joomla has been “hitting its stride” while “giving the finger” to 1.0 users, pretty much confirms what I wrote at the time.

Would Apple be where it is today, if they had told OS 9 users to jump off a cliff? Imagine the slow speed that OS X would have been adopted… and imagine how Apple wouldn’t have had the resources to build iPhone, iPod touch, Apple TV, and all the other crazy OS X-based devices in the pipeline.

However, I can tell you as a fellow web developer who uses both Joomla and WordPress, that Joomla is a superior solution in terms of flexibility. (I say that with all due respect to WP, as I love that community as well) And now that “time has told,” Joomla 1.5 is finally hitting it’s stride with more great features on the way. As one commenter stated, it was “worth the wait.”

There are two things I’d like to see with regard to Joomla. (1) an easy update tool from 1.0 to 1.5, and (2) an easy way to convert WP to Joomla without losing all my links. But as you know, very few things in this business come easy. There are a lot of 1.0 sites out there and without an easy way to upgrade they will likely remain that way. Such a proposition is a bit scary in lieu of vulnerabilities which have now been found in those earlier releases and which are well documented.

Anyway, thanks for the salient commentary and good luck in your future endeavors.

What we’re waiting for is IP.Converge to allow for cross-login between WordPress and IP.Board, but it isn’t really a priority. We don’t have a need for logins right now over there.

A JomComment migration path would be nice, the problem though is that it would have to be integrated into the original migration script (or, at the least, the original script would have to be updated to match article-id across both versions). Right now, the migration script doesn’t line up article IDs.

Also, 301 redirects are a royal pain. At PhoneNews.com, we wrote over 1,000 by hand. We’ve held off on writing the other 1,200 because of low SEO value. Some day I might right them just for the sake of accomplishment… Joomla still gives me a headache when I remember it :)

So, you think installing a forum, converting my joomla users to it, then “uploading” those users to wordpress by way of a phpbb bridge to wordpress?

I guess comments will be a problem, but I’m willing to sacrifice them for the overall improvement of my site… There’s gotta be some simple way to migrate those too, perhaps with NAVCAT or something of that nature… I will have to look into the db structure of JOM_COMMENT for that…

Thanks for the quick reply Chris!

Dan