> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://horrell.ca/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Switching over from Textpattern to Ghost
- URL: https://horrell.ca/2014/03/23/switching-over-from-textpattern-to-ghost/
- Published: 2014-03-23T21:05:31.000Z
- Updated: 2019-05-03T17:58:02.000Z
- Author: Christopher Horrell
- Tags: Ghost, Textpattern, SmartOS, Joyent, #Import 2024-10-01 02:36

I recently switched [Horrell.ca](https://horrell.ca/) from [Textpattern](http://textpattern.com/?ref=horrell.ca) to [Ghost](http://ghost.org/?ref=horrell.ca). Chances are there are a bunch of broken links to files and such. I'm still tweaking and fixing things and reworking the site design, so expect more changes in the coming months :)

For anyone else who wants to attempt this, a word of warning: *there's no easy way to export content from Textpattern to import into Ghost*. Ideally, a Textpattern plugin for this would help tremendously, but I wasn't able to find one. I was going to attempt to create one myself, but it's been so long since I've worked in PHP or created a Textpattern plugin that it didn't seem to be worth my time. Instead I (mostly) followed the instructions I found [here](http://teccanique.com/migrating-textpattern-to-ghost/?ref=horrell.ca). The short version of what you have to do: you need to temporarily setup a [WordPress](http://wordpress.org/?ref=horrell.ca) blog, import your Textpattern posts into that, then export your posts via a Ghost WordPress plugin, then import into Ghost. Yeah. If you use Textpattern and are thinking about moving to Ghost, it might be best to wait for a bit until bettor options come up.

Despite all that, at least for me, the switch has been worthwhile. It's a great platform for writting and since it runs on Node.js, it's very light on resources. I was able to resize my current Joyent SmartOS instance down significantly since removing Apache and MySQL from the equation.

Speaking of SmartOS instances, I created a handy script for getting Ghost up and running on Joyent called [smarty-ghost ](https://github.com/chorrell/smarty-ghost?ref=horrell.ca). It works fairly well and takes care of setting up the SMF manifest for you. I'll be improving that script over time and the install process should become much simpler when Ghost becomes an published [npm](https://www.npmjs.org/?ref=horrell.ca) package.

Oh, and while I was moving things around on my site I put all the Textpattern plugins I created over the years on [GitHub](https://github.com/chorrell?ref=horrell.ca). I probably won't be using Textpattern much or contributiing to the ecosystem anymore, but my old code is out there for anyone who might find it usefull. Here's a list of links to each plugin repo:

- [cwh\_hobo](https://github.com/chorrell/cwh%5Fhobo?ref=horrell.ca)
- [cwh\_link\_to\_home](https://github.com/chorrell/cwh%5Flink%5Fto%5Fhome?ref=horrell.ca)
- [cwh\_link\_to\_next](https://github.com/chorrell/cwh%5Flink%5Fto%5Fnext?ref=horrell.ca)
- [cwh\_link\_to\_prev](https://github.com/chorrell/cwh%5Flink%5Fto%5Fprev?ref=horrell.ca)