Blogware End of Life
On March 31, 2012, Tucows Blogware will be shut down and all Blogware blogs and content will be deleted.
Blogware users who wish to retain their blog content must export all content before March 31, 2012. After that date, all content stored on Blogware, including posts, photos, templates and other assets will be deleted and unrecoverable.
OpenSRS Resellers have two options available to them for transitioning Blogware users to other platforms:
- RackShare/PressHarbor
RackShare which operates a hosted WordPress solution called PressHarbor is willing to accept your customers and transition them to their hosted and supported WordPress platform. PressHarbor is an offshoot of BlogHarbor, one of the largest Blogware Resellers. They have extensive experience transitioning customers from Blogware to WordPress
Contact John Keegan at RackShare JLIB_HTML_CLOAKING for more information and/or visit: http://www.pressharbor.com/web-hosting/blogware-migration-service/ - Transition to an alternate platform/provider
Blogware offers users a way to download content in an export format that works with some current blogging platforms including WordPress (only self-hosted and NOT WordPress.com). Resellers can either transition Blogware users to a self-hosted WordPress installation on a traditional hosting package.
Another option is to host and maintain a WordPress MU (Multi-User) installation and migrate users to a WordPress infrastructure that you maintain. See this page at the WordPress.org site for more information on WordPress Multisite networks.
Importing to Self-Hosted WordPress from Blogware
The Blogware manual has some information about how to export Blogware content in a format that WordPress understands. Once the Blogware export file is created, users can utilize the built in Importing function in WordPress to import the Blogware content including text and comments. Users will have to manually export and import all images, photos, and other assets from Blogware and upload them to WordPress.
The Blogware Publisher Manual (Download in PDF format) has more information on how to generate a Blogware Export file beginning on page 259. More information on Importing Content to WordPress including Blogware: http://codex.wordpress.org/Importing_Content
Known Issues with Blogware to WordPress Exports
- Export files are not available in bulk. Each Blogware blog needs to be exported individually.
- SEO/Google 'juice' may be impacted unless users create a custom .htaccess redirect file to handle 302 redirects from the Blogware permalink structure to WordPress.
- Photos are not part of export file. Users who wish to retain photos should manually download all photos before Blogware is shut down.
- Trackbacks are not exported.
- Comment fields don't import with the 'author' field. All imported comments will show as being made by 'anonymous' after importing to WordPress.
Blogware Documentation
Blogware Manuals are available for download in PDF format:
