After migrating a WordPress site to static files, Google Search Console may start sending you notifications about page indexing problems. Often the issue will be marked as ‘Blocked due to access forbidden (403)’. In this article I will explain in detail why this happens and a simple solution to fix it.
How to set up a MySQL database server on Ubuntu for Drupal to WordPress migrations
Content Management System (CMS) migration projects involve moving data between databases with different schemas. Table names, field types and constraints often don’t match up, leading to a number of frustrating errors. This is especially the case with highly complex Drupal to WordPress migrations that use custom scripts to extract, transform and load the data. Read on to find out how to set up a MySQL database server on Ubuntu for Drupal to WordPress migrations.
A guide to WordPress Backups and Staging
This WordPress Backups and Staging Guide is a guest post by Melinda Bartley. If you’ve run a WordPress site long enough, you’d know how making changes to it can be tricky. Sometimes, even minor changes can cause major glitches. This makes backups and staging such lifesavers! Every WordPress site should have backup and staging solutions… [more]
Ubercart to WooCommerce migration notes
I’ve now had several Ubercart to WooCommerce migration projects so it’s time to start documenting the process. As with all my documentation, I’ll start off this post as rough notes and improve it over time. If this topic interests you, be sure to check back every so often to see the updates. Please keep in… [more]
Migrating Drupal events to WordPress Events Calendar (Tribe Events)
The The Events Calendar, sometimes known as Tribe Events, is a popular plugin for managing event content in WordPress. It’s so popular that it’s often the first choice when clients ask me to migrate Drupal event content into WordPress. Here is some sample SQL queries if you need to do something similar. Sample SQL queries… [more]
How to fix a ‘Object of class WP_Error could not be converted to string’ error in WordPress
If you see a blank page while trying to log in to your WordPress site, check your web server’s error logs. You may get the following error: stderr: PHP Catchable fatal error: Object of class WP_Error could not be converted to string in /var/[PATH TO YOUR DOCUMENT ROOT]/wp-includes/default-constants.php on line 139 Note that the line… [more]
Why is Drupal the second most dreaded platform?
According to the Drupal Shell site, Drupal is the second most hated CMS platform. I think this sounds a little harsh. Digging into the source survey on stackoverflow, we find that it’s actually listed as the second most dreaded platform. While perhaps more even-handed, I’m still not at all surprised as a large chunk of… [more]
How to fix Error Code 2013 Lost connection to MySQL server
If you spend time running lots of MySQL queries, you might come across the Error Code: 2013. Lost connection to MySQL server during query. This article offers some suggestions on how to avoid or fix the problem. Why this happens This error appears when the connection between your MySQL client and database server times out…. [more]
Post-migration troubleshooting: Gateway timeout when enabling plugins
Here’s one that caught me out on a recent Drupal to WordPress migration. As is common with my projects, there were three parties involved: the client, an external development team and myself. The WordPress site was first built on the development team’s server, after which it was migrated to my local environment. When everything was… [more]
How to change the WordPress table prefix prior to a migration
When working on a Drupal to WordPress migration project, I like to migrate into a set of intermediary WordPress tables that live in the Drupal database. These are working tables where I can run various scripts to process and clean up the content before exporting to a working WordPress installation. It’s not necessary to do… [more]
Post-migration troubleshooting: WordPress redirects to old site after updating database
If you’ve ever migrated a WordPress site, either to another URL or for a Drupal to WordPress migration project, you’ll know that WordPress stores the domain name in its database. This means you’ll have to jump through some hoops when moving WordPress to another environment. A critical step is to update the database to reflect… [more]
Handling the Drupal file directory when migrating to WordPress
Attaching media the WordPress Media Library are one of those things that many clients don’t realise can add lots of time to a Drupal to WordPress migration project. The reason is a little detailed and involves some knowledge of WordPress’ inner-workings. When you upload a file to the WordPress Media Library, WordPress does some magic… [more]
Migrating Bare Bones Yojimbo to WordPress
In a previous post, I wrote about exporting data from Bare Bones Software’s Yojimbo and using Tomboy as an alternative. My migration script scraped the content from Yojimbo Sidekick and wrote XML files in Tomboy Note format. Though there were some drawbacks, such as tags being unavailable in Yojimbo Sidekick, I thought Tomboy’s search feature… [more]
Migrating Delicious Bookmarks to WordPress
Delicious is one of those services that few people know about but loved (and probably hated in equal measure) by those who use it. Their offering is easy to grasp: Delicious is a social bookmarking service that lets you “Save, organize, and remember the links you find interesting or useful around the web.” I’m sure… [more]
How to write a Drupal to WordPress migration mapping document
Performing a Drupal to WordPress migration can be very complex, especially if you have many content types. You’ll make the process easier if you create a migration mapping document beforehand. A common migration mapping is to convert Drupal pages to the WordPress page type and Drupal stories to the WordPress post type. However, many Drupal… [more]
Importing a WordPress database: How to fix the Unknown collation: ‘utf8mb4_unicode_ci’ error
If you do a lot of exporting and importing to different database servers, you’ll be familiar with the frustration of encountering MySQL import errors. Every so often when importing a WordPress dump file into a client’s database, I will encounter an Unknown collation error like the following: Unknown collation: ‘utf8mb4_unicode_ci’ Sometimes it will come up… [more]
How to prepare for your Drupal to WordPress migration project
Any successful project requires careful planning and a Drupal to WordPress migration is no exception. If you haven’t already read my Drupal to WordPress Migration Guide, I recommend you first head over there to get an idea of what’s involved. It can be tempting to get straight to setting up WordPress, trying out new themes… [more]
Drupal to WordPress migration worksheet
If you are using my Drupal to WordPress Migration Tool or have hired me for Drupal to WordPress migration service, it’s important that you gather as much information as you can about your Drupal installation. The more detailed you are in your investigation, the fewer surprises there will be during the actual migration. You may… [more]
Preserving SEO during a Drupal to WordPress migration
This article is about preserving SEO during a Drupal to WordPress migration. It’s not about which platform is better. A web search will bring up many articles about the relative SEO merits of Drupal versus WordPress. I’ve found the best summary on that topic in a forum post by Drupal.org user and developer, John Birchall:… [more]
Drupal to WordPress Image Migration
If you’re looking for a script to migrate images from Drupal to WordPress, check out Brendan Carr’s Drupal 6 to WordPress Image Migration plugin. Brendan used my Drupal to WordPress Migration Tool and developed his plugin as a companion. He also confirmed that my web-based script is compatible with WordPress 4. If you need to… [more]