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Re: Imports
I’m not vested one way or the other. Just thinking out loud. I generally operate on the idea that everything should be re-examined periodically to see if previous thinking and practices are still valid.
net-carver wrote:
If someone wants to migrate from, say, Wordpress then should we make them go through the totally unfamiliar ground of plugin acquisition, installation and enabling in order to import?
Understandable. That was behind my thinking in suggesting the import be an officially maintained plugin, and that it be installed by default, (or, even better would be a link to an auto-installer).
That would make it easy to find (in the tab), and install/enable (click the link or button).
phiw13 wrote:
I don’t think the idea of a separate plugin is any good at all.
Fair enough. As I said, I was thinking out loud, and wondered if there was merit.
I am curious how much it is used, and how trouble free the process is. I’ve never used it yet .
I think I recall discussions that indicate the importer works much better for some conversions than others. EE for example required several work arounds (I think – there was a tutorial somewhere online at one time).
Given other discussions regarding what is necessary to the core and what could be moved to plugins, this seems somewhat along the same lines. For example – comments. I’ve generally been adverse to moving comments to a plug in. (Though I’ve been warming up to the idea of an officially maintained basic plugin and the ability to upgrade to more complex options).
One of the arguments for moving comments out of the core install is that a number of people use them. Yet I suspect far more people may use the comment function of Txp than use the import function. (Total speculation there – just a gut feeling).
Plus, as net-carver noted, once you use it, you generally don’t need it anymore.
Thus, while it is basic for migration, it really isn’t basic to the day to day function of Txp, or its core features.
(I’d actually view an “export” feature as more basic to the core than “import”.)
The thought crossed my mind that targeted plugins might actually make a better new user experience — e.g. a word press importer, an EE importer, etc. Of course the extra labor required to have specialized plugins, with developers who keep them up to date is challenging in a project the size of Txp, and is probably not the best choice.
As a tangent, I suppose the import function is an argument to keep comments in the core since a number of imports would have comments, and there needs to be a place to put the incoming comments without send someone looking for a plugin first. . .
anyway – just some rambling thoughts, fwiw. :)
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