blog migration checklist
I am a veteran of blog migrations with the scars to prove it. Here is a handy ‘cut out and keep’ checklist of the important things I normally forget:
- Permalink structure. Try to preserve the existing permalink structure to save hours of pain. This is particularly important when using Disqus (although there is a URL migration utility for Disqus).
- Typically, I like to have ‘Archives’, ‘About’ and a ‘Contact’ page.
- Tag support including a ‘Tags’ page.
- Images. I have learned to upload all photos and screenshots to PicasaWeb and intentionally de-couple images from the blog platform.
- Sitemap support. Helps search engines index the site.
- RSS/Atom support . Previously I have always used Feedburner (although I may follow Google’s example and sever this dependency) and simply use the native feed. Less is more.
- Comments. Static site generators are slightly limited here (compared with proper blogging platforms) so I guess I will continue to use Disqus. Mind you, for the number of comments versus spam, I may also dispense with comments and invite people to use Google+ or identi.ca.
- Themes. It would be desirable to be able to change themes to avoid having the same look and feel and every other Octopress blog.
Please feel free to add your own tips in the comments.