So, yesterday I thought I’d fool around a bit with a new CMS. Little did I realize that this was an all-in deal. After hours of fighting with the system just to get a handle on basic functionality, I then had to deal with the grim reality that I wouldn’t simply be able to import the pages from my old database, which means that I have to reconstitute the whole site, all seventeen years and 3000+ pages of it. Oh, what fun.

I’d been meaning to modernize my code anyway and also make the site friendlier to mobile users, so this had to happen. I really did like Wolf CMS, but I probably shouldn’t have put off upgrading so long after the developers closed up shop. I suppose now, during the lull between school years is the best time for it.

My first step on the road to reconstruction is the Update Archive. Once that’s set, I have a reference point for the site’s content and can continue to rebuild from there. Though I have a fairly extensive offline backup, there are some gaps, but I still have the old database to dig into if needs be, and failing that, I should be able to grab content via the Wayback Machine. It’s going to be a long process, but it’s not like I’m doing everything from scratch. It could definitely be a whole lot worse.

I’ll be chronicling the recovery efforts here. Don’t expect much in the way of story progress until I’ve got everything in a serviceable form. Stay tuned.