New Year, New Joomla! Site - Migrating to Joomla! 3.x

The saying is New Year, New You.  What about New Year, New Joomla! Site?  Dec 31st not only marked the end of 2014 but also marked the end of support for Joomla! 2.5. For those keeping up with updates, there was a reminder in the administrator panel so you would not forget. While unpleasant flashbacks of the experience migrating from 1.5 to 2.5 gripped some. Others were in denial and disbelieve that a migration is needed.  I, however, looked at it with cautious optimism.  While my experience from 1.5 to 2.5 was far from a piece of cake, I’d been following the development and thought perhaps things would be different for the migration to 3.x and you know what?  I was right.  

The development team behind the Joomla! 3.x did a great job in my opinion. Not only are the features and functions in the system the best to date (more on some of my favorite features and functions to come), they seemed to really have given thought to the upgrade process.  The suggested migration steps are laid out on the joomla.org website. I’ve followed the steps several times now and the not-so-good experiences of the 1.5 migration have begun to fade.  

Will they work 100% of the time, well no, nothing will.  However, for the sites I’ve been converting, it has been MUCH easier than before and so far (knock on wood - sorry my only superstitious vice) with far fewer issues.

This round of 3x conversions is not my first.  I started about a year ago and like many have written about on the internet, had the blank white screen and other issues.  For one of the very first sites I converted, there were so many issues that I ended up rebuilding the site.  Fast forward to end of 2014 and the migration process, at least for me, is world’s better.  The key, is to make sure the site is running the latest version of 2.5 BEFORE making the leap to 3.x, you will save yourself time and frustration.  

Speaking of saving time and frustration, if you are working on upgrading your Joomla! website to 3x and are in the Chicagoland area, I invite you to join us for lunch, thanks to The Aluent Group, on January 14th at the JoomlaChicago User Group meeting at Durty Nellie’s in Palatine where we will be discussing Migrating to Joomla! 3.x.  It is a great opportunity to ask questions, pick up tips and meet others.  Sign-up on joomlachicago.com to let us know you are coming. 

Whether you can make it to the meeting or not, please share with me your Joomla! 3.x migration experience and don’t forget to check back for my favorite features and functions of Joomla! 3.x.

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