Moved my primary blog, Blue Ridge Muse, from Drupal to WordPress last weekend. Surprisingly, the process went a lot smoother than expected, thanks in large part to Lincoln Hawks superb tutorial on Social CMS Buzz.
Although I recommend Drupal for complex, content-heavy web sites, the popular open-source CMS can be a drain on server and database resources. The installation on Muse had grown to 147 tables. By migrating the data to WordPress, I reduced the table count to 14 without losing any content, images or links. Using WP’s permalinks feature, I set up a url structure that exactly matched Drupal’s “node” system so all my legacy links work without a hitch. The site now loads much faster and reader feedback has been positive.
As a writer and photographer, WordPress is much better for the creative process. Writing is seamless and the program’s handling of images if much more intuitive than Drupal. I will continue to use Drupal for Capitol Hill Blue because the CMS is more suited to a complex site but I’m happy with the easier-than-expected transition to WordPress for Muse.