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How to Mass Transfer Content From a HTML/PHP Site to Wordpress?

by Jay Rhome
9 replies
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Hi guys and gals


I need to transfer the content from a html/php site to wordpress. I tried using a html to WP plugin (import-html-pages.2.4) as the files are html files, but the site obviously also uses php as the end result on the domain are php files, and the end result of the transfer using the plugin was not satisfactory.

Can this kind of transfer be done with a plugin or database coding? Otherwise it would have to be done manually and the all links adjusted too. I’m sure somebody already found a way to automate this as it's surely not that uncommon.


Thanks for the help WF and have a GREAT 2014!!!!
#content #html or php #mass #site #transfer #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author shahriyar
    Originally Posted by Jay Rhome View Post

    Hi guys and gals

    I need to transfer the content from a html/php site to wordpress. I tried using a html to WP plugin (import-html-pages.2.4) as the files are html files, but the site obviously also uses php as the end result on the domain are php files, and the end result of the transfer using the plugin was not satisfactory.
    Well, if the plugin scrapes the site from URLs, then backend PHP/ASP/etc. does not matter. HTML is always the output.

    The plugin can probably get you results, but it is likely it won't be perfect.

    Originally Posted by Jay Rhome View Post

    Can this kind of transfer be done with a plugin or database coding? Otherwise it would have to be done manually and the all links adjusted too. I'm sure somebody already found a way to automate this as it's surely not that uncommon.

    Thanks for the help WF and have a GREAT 2014!!!!
    Yes, I haven't done this for wordpress but have done it for Joomla. Basically the script I wrote worked like this.

    On the old site (from where to get data), I connected to its Database, gather all data and saved it into a appropriate format (xml fle) recognizable by a particular Joomla content import plugin. Then imported the data using the Joomla plugin on the new site.

    This way I got all the data accurately, but the new site had a new template and needed to fix some formatting of the articles. But this method was far more accurate.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jay Rhome
      Originally Posted by shahriyar View Post

      Yes, I haven't done this for wordpress but have done it for Joomla. Basically the script I wrote worked like this.

      On the old site (from where to get data), I connected to its Database, gather all data and saved it into a appropriate format (xml fle) recognizable by a particular Joomla content import plugin. Then imported the data using the Joomla plugin on the new site..
      I guess I will have to try it this way. I know with WP you export/import an XML file. I've never created one. I will see what I can do. The thing is: how do I create a XML file for the old site? It's not a WP site.

      I'm just baffled by how this site works. All html files when I look at the files through Filezilla, yet the end result is a php file that seems to combine html files. :confused: I had never seen this before - though maybe it's not that uncommon and I had just never seen it. I'm slightly-above-beginner with codes. Not a newbie but no expert.
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      • Profile picture of the author shahriyar
        Originally Posted by Jay Rhome View Post

        I guess I will have to try it this way. I know with WP you export/import an XML file. I've never created one. I will see what I can do. The thing is: how do I create a XML file for the old site?
        It depends on how your old site is developed. Basically, you need to write a PHP script to connect to its DB and fetch all page data and save to XML (compatible with WP). All this can be done using PHP only. You can hire someone to do it as well if you are not experienced with writing similar scripts.

        Originally Posted by Jay Rhome View Post

        I'm just baffled by how this site works. All html files, yet the end result is a php file that seems to combine html files. :confused: I had never seen this before - though may be it's not that uncommon and I had just never seen it.
        Well, no matter what server side language is used (PHP/ASP/JSP etc.), the output sent to browser is always HTML. Browsers e..g Chrome, Firefox, IE etc. only knows HTML (+CSS/JS etc.) & displays it, browser is not aware of the server side language used.
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        • Profile picture of the author entrepenerd
          How many pages are you trying to transfer from the old system to the new? That will often determine whether finding a programmatic way to do the transfer is worthwhile or not.
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          • Profile picture of the author Jay Rhome
            Originally Posted by entrepenerd View Post

            How many pages are you trying to transfer from the old system to the new? That will often determine whether finding a programmatic way to do the transfer is worthwhile or not.
            50 (at a minimum) and 300 for the full site. So I do think automation would be best ha ha.

            Even manually I have issues. I have used the raw HTML plugin with a manual test posting and I still had table issues.

            I contacted the creator of the import-html-pages plugin for a quote as I'm sure she has way more hands on experience in this than me!
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  • Profile picture of the author shahidali788
    I think it will be manually because there is no plugin for this. but you can make the plugin from scratch for this.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jay Rhome
    It depends on how your old site is developed. Basically, you need to write a PHP script to connect to its DB and fetch all page data and save to XML (compatible with WP). All this can be done using PHP only. You can hire someone to do it as well if you are not experienced with writing similar scripts.
    Is that something you do? You can PM if you want
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  • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
    I've had good results with importer plugins. if I remember correctly it was HTML Import 2 that I've used the most. Had to tweak the settings a lot, and delete the articles that didn't come through just right. In the end there were only some minor stuff I had to change by hand, and there was nothing that I could do about it anyway (because the original site was such a lousy job).

    I've also used WP Autopost (premium plugin) to update a live site with content from another system. Can't see why it wouldn't work here. The plugin gets the page HTML, finds the content blocks based on what you've told it to look for, and inserts the stuff to content fields or custom fields.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jay Rhome
    The creator of the HTML Import 2 plugin graciously told me to first use a php site grabber (I used Cyotek Webcopy), and then use the plugin on these files as a way to go around the fact the site ended in php. I'll still need a lot of tweaking, and it seems a lot of the inner pages are not found by the site grabber.

    I'll have to see how much tweaking I actually need to do. I'm sure for most sites it wouldn't be much but looks like I've got a hard one on my hands.
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