It’s taken me a bit, but I’ve finally coverted my blog over to use WordPress. Since I started this blog almost 8 years ago, I’ve managed it on a custom-written content management system. I wrote everything from scratch including the database schema, spam precautions, and tagging system. This past month, I finally reached the point where I decided that I no longer wanted to maintain my own CMS. It was a pain in the ass to add new features and I really just wanted to focus on writing. Thus, I began the arduous process of converting to WordPress.

The biggest issue I faced was importing my custom database tables into WordPress. I had to put my database admin hat back on, examine the WordPress tables and my own, and then figure out how to get my data converted. Thankfully, I was able to do this without too much hassle. This was mostly due to the fact that my tables were setup in a very similar way to WordPress, which shocks me because databases are certainly not my strong suit. Maybe some of my college database class actually sunk in.

I have the same web site design, with a few things missing because I haven’t had time to make the changes. I really want to spend time redesigning the entire site in the near future, but for now, this will do. You’ll also note that I’ve removed the CAPTCHA question from comment forms. Since I have Akismet running now, I’m going to assume that it’s good enough to capture spam comments. If I see an increasing number of spam comments, then I’ll put the CAPTCHA back.

Other than that, you shouldn’t notice much difference between the old and new sites. All the old links should still work, including individual posts and RSS feeds. That’s all for now, carry on.

Disclaimer: Any viewpoints and opinions expressed in this article are those of Nicholas C. Zakas and do not, in any way, reflect those of my employer, my colleagues, Wrox Publishing, O'Reilly Publishing, or anyone else. I speak only for myself, not for them.