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Migrating a Website to Craft CMS
What should you consider when planning a site migration to Craft? Ryan steps through what he's learned along the way.
Let’s discuss the key considerations for a Craft migration — moving a site into Craft CMS. In this first video, we’ll walk through what you need to consider.
First, do you have the Craft mindset? Can you look at a website design and identify how different content pieces would fit into Craft? Can you think in terms of Craft’s ecosystem and how it works?
If you’re not familiar with Craft, you’ll want to get acquainted first. You can watch the course here on CraftQuest called “The Craft Mindset,” which will guide you through what to consider. If you’re still unsure, consider working with an experienced Craft developer or consultant to help gauge the scope of your migration project. They can help set the path and foresee potential pitfalls.
If you’re unsure about handling the migration yourself, consider hiring a specialist for the data migration. They can focus on this crucial aspect while leaving template implementation to your team. It’s often better to work with a data migration specialist rather than a generalist, as they can quickly create custom setups to extract and manipulate data as needed.
The Craft mindset is crucial when migrating data to Craft or undertaking a project with a data migration component. Another key consideration is whether the site you’re building or migrating is a good fit for Craft. Does it play to Craft’s strengths? Are you trying to build something that Craft isn’t naturally suited for, like a complex social networking site?
I like to use a “smell test” or “gut check” here. When you have experience, you’ll get a feeling about whether a project is a good fit for Craft. The site should pass this intuitive test.
Next, review and document the site’s functionality. Can Craft capably handle what the site needs to do? For example, can it handle form submissions, blog publishing, simple e‑commerce, or nested pages for landing pages? If Craft can’t handle something out of the box, is there a plugin available, or will you need a custom solution?
Check if the existing site uses any critical plugins. Are there similar plugins available for Craft? Will you need to develop custom plugins or modules? Identify any hidden functionality that might not work out of the box with Craft.
Consider file-based resources like images, PDFs, or download files. Where are they stored? How are they delivered? Can they be moved to a CDN? Will these resources need to be migrated as asset elements in Craft?
Think about the site’s design and templates. Will you keep the same design or rebuild? Are there any embedded functionalities in the templates that might be challenging to migrate? Look for PHP or other code in the templates that affects how the site functions or outputs content.
Finally, consider any unique features that might be challenging, such as calendaring or special user account features. Document these and rate their difficulty in terms of implementation in Craft.
These are the key points to consider before starting your Craft migration. In the upcoming videos, we’ll dive into hands-on migration, discuss different tools, and explore how to migrate data from various CMSs. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you in the next video.
Migrating a Website to Craft CMS is made up of the following videos: