Migration Complete: This is My New Blog

Due to the Oracle acquisition of BEA, the BEA blogging site at dev2dev.bea.com will be merged into OTN sometime in the future. This necessitated a switch to a new blogging platform, and I chose Blogspot. This blog entry explains the process.

 

Blog Migration Process (MovableType to ???)

For other BEA bloggers about to go through the transition, here is the process you need to follow:

1. Decide where you are going to go: in a few weeks you can setup an OTN blog and that is not a bad option at all. I decided to go external for certain reasons, but it was a tough decision.
2. Install Microsoft LiveWriter if you run a Windows machine. Its a great blogging tool, and has migration features.
3. Point LiveWriter at your old blog if you haven't already. (Weblog->Add Weblog Account)
4. Point LiveWriter at your new blog. (Weblog->Add Weblog Account)
5. Click on the More icon on the Recently Posted box in the right nav.
6. Click on your old blog on the left side
7. Find a blog posting you want to move, click on it. It will open in the editor pane.
8. Click on the Weblog dropdown menu and select your new blog. It will reformat your entry to the new style.
9. Make whatever updates you want. I did
1. I put a blurb at the top of each entry to explain that the content was migrated from dev2dev
2. Copied over the comments into the bottom of the page (as static text)
3. Updated the internal links that pointed to other blog entries of mine on dev2dev
10. Update the "Set publish date" box in the lower right corner to match the original publishing date
11. Click the Publish item
12. Repeat for each entry you want to move.
13. Register your blog in the Oracle Blog Roll: http://wiki.oracle.com/page/List+of+Oracle-related+blogs

Moving to Blogger.com/Blogspot

I chose to go external, and it was a horse race between Wordpress and Blogger. Wordpress has automated migration, but Blogger has the key feature that I want: fine grained visitor stats. With Blogger, you can hook up Google Analytics, which is an awesome tool for understanding who visits your pages and how.

To do your own comparison, look at:

• Blogger vs. Wordpress.com Comparison Chart

If you go with Blogger, this is what I did to get my blog setup as I like it:

• Chose a template - I picked a plain one with a white background since that was what dev2dev had
• Customized the template - I write big posts, so I expanded the main area by editing the HTML template
• Edited my profile
• Customized the layout - I added the widget for my Twitter feed on the right
• Customized Settings - clicked through each of the settings tabs and made some non-default choices
• Added Google Analytics - added a HTML widget at page bottom, and injected the GoogA Javascript block

Work Remaining

• I need to finish the comment copying process.
• I need to search and replace remaining dev2dev blog links
• I want to ping some of my dev2dev inbound links to see if they will update to point to my new pages

Technorati Tags: blogger,wordpress,movabletype,migration