FTP Blogger Migration Tool First Hand Experience
Case History on Using the Blogger FTP Migration Tool
Here is some feedback to consider when using the Blogger FTP Migration Tool.
I switched the blog: www.jimwarholic.com/iforgot directory published blog on my server to iforgot.jimwarholic.com a subdomain blog hosted at Blogger, as a test case for the Blogger FTP Migration Tool.
The details of the switch are published on the automatically published update page produced by the Blogger Migration tool. See, This blog has moved posting page for more in-depth analysis.
The procedure had a couple of twists and turns that made life a bit interesting, but in the end, I think it went as well as can be expected at this time. I think there could be a few improvements in the process though, especially in light of someone that is having great difficulty with publishing FTP in the first place.
1. I suggest letting us know up front, that if the blog has trouble publishing the updated pages via Blogger, that a ZIP file will be created to download that has the updated files, and subsequently must be uploaded via a standard FTP publishing program on your local computer or going to the CPanel or other hosting panel and uploading the updated files to the appropriate directories.
2. Note that the archive files were not in the proper directory, when unzipped, because the blog was customized to store them in a different directory (like “archives”) in the Blogger FTP administrative panel area to begin with. So, I needed to make sure I uploaded them to the proper directory.
3. Observation: Very interesting that the PHP file names were maintained, and even a new posting, which I back dated to place it below (before) the “This blog has moved” posting, also had a .php file name instead of a .html file name. Is this a possible sign of things to come? For example, might we have in the future “PHP Includes”? That would be exciting!
4. Changes: The Blogger Nav Bar no longer had the option to not show it from the Blogger administrative panel. Yes, I was able to hide it with CSS, but I had to adjust the top spacing of the template a bit for the new vs. the old. Is this a slight oversight of not having the option from the edit the HTML menu of not displaying the Blogger Nav Bar?
5. XML Template Questions: If I decide to go to a new XML style template, will the file names still stay the same, with the same .php file naming convention? Will all subsequent new pages in XML templates and new blog postings be having a .php file naming convention if that is what I started with? Or, will the file naming convention be an option in the future?
6. Procedure Fine Tuning: At the point where the FTP migration tool came up to download the ZIP file, the main enter button was still saying something, like “continue” or something like that, which didn’t make sense at that point in the procedure.
7. I am sure I am forgetting about something in this comments section, but you can read about it over here at: I Forgot What I Was Doing.
Hope that helps.
Regards,
Jim W.
