Value your mind

Here’s my 2 minute video on how I erased permanent marker from a whiteboard.

Remove Permanent Marker
Watch it in YouTube

I’ve been using Joomla v1.0 for my blog for the past 5 months and find that it is still in it’s baby stages. There were several issues about Joomla that just didn’t make it as a blogging platform. I had difficulty because

• I cannot tag my posts
• once I label a post as archive, it will no longer appear in the main pool of posts
• I tried finding but still cannot place advertisements in between posts
• I have to install a third party component to enable users to leave a comment
• I have to insert html code manually to include ads in the posts

No doubt the support I got from the forums are helpful but it is not enough. The frustration I face during days when Joomla prevents me from doing what I want to do just spoils the rest of my day. Enough is enough and so I decided to migrate Joomla to wordpress.

Firstly, a million thanks to Rodney Blevins for making it possible to move Joomla to WordPress. Thanks for making the Mambo2Wordpress Import Wizard that made life easier for me. Now I’ll contribute back by detailing my steps.

The import wizard made by Rodney was actually meant for Mambo (a previous name for Joomla). However, after several modifications, it was Joomla compatible. You can find the download link to my modified version at the end of the article. Below are the steps I took.

Tested on :

Joomla CMS v1.0.12
Wordpress 2.1

Install WordPress and create a folder in the root called ‘export’.



Update the config.php file with your own database names, mysql user name, password and host name.



All my tables had a ‘jla_’ prefix in the front



So if your tables have a different prefix, eg. ‘abc_’, then just search and replace ALL ‘jla_’ with ‘abc_’ for the index.php file.



Upload index.php and config.php to the ‘export’ folder in the root of your website.

Surf to http://your-wp-installation/export and follow the steps to import your articles or links into WordPress.

You’re DONE!

DISCLAIMER : Use it at your own risk. I have tested it a lot on my own server and it works, which does not mean it will work for you as well. It may break your website accidentally. ALWAYS make sure you have a working backup before attempting big scale stunts like this.

Update 2009/01/04 : Fixed broken download link

Update 2009/06/24 : If the script above does not work for you, try out Jason Anton’s modified script here.