From Drupal hell to WordPress well … haha

I’m no developer – more a writer n photographer with content to share online.
Even so, got “into” content management systems: from Mambo, to Joomla, to Drupal – which, at the time, looked set to become easier for ordinary folks.

Well, that didn’t turn out well with Drupal; I moved from D6 to D7, after which looked real scary. Almost succeeded in an “upgrade” to D8, but had issues; and felt very disenchanted, as Drupal became more mysterious beast, aimed at enterprises and folks who know Symphony as more than classical music. [Also tried Backdrop; had issues, and while well meaning seems not so supported.]

Anyhoo … after wondering what to do, found a migration to WordPress was possible; and one way is via FG Drupal to WordPress plugin.

So, I gave this a try. And found it easier, better results, than the Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 or Backdrop migrations.

Nope, not perfect; not everything transferred so readily to WordPress.

But the main content – main text with images, structure. Which was what I most wanted.

Forum more of a hassle; but I avoided paying for FG module for me, serving me right. Used combo of FG module and bbpress importer from Drupal. And find I have difficulties editing existing comments; but can add and edit new comments.

As to main issues: I had images in Drupal galleries. And a big fail for these. There is info on how to maybe sort this, through FG plugin info. But not so straightforward; involves some commands for MySQL. I did ask, and prompt email offered to help me – but in the end, I opted to delete the pages with gallery images [that were sort of present, but not showing on pages].
Instead, figured it better to create new galleries.

As to WordPress, for anyone in Drupal purgatory who hasn’t tried: breath of fresh air compared to Drupal. Closer to Dries’ earlier notions of making Drupal something allowing you to build webpages by clicking with mouse, dragging content around and so forth.
Main thing, perhaps: after being so annoyed w Drupal, WordPress seems more focused on regular folk as users, makes creating websites and pages more like fun again.

And with FG Drupal to WordPress plugin, can make the transition without a whole lot of pain. [the paid version; for all the grief saved – in my case, I’d be unable to make the transition without this or equivalent – well worthwhile]

While you can find instructions in various places, I’ve done some notes from non-developer’s viewpoint, on my experience using plugin. Maybe search and find it, if interested.