Joomla
to
WordPress
Joomla powered a generation of corporate sites, and many are still running. The problem is rarely the content: it’s the version underneath, the extensions nobody updates and the template only one person understands.
If your site is on Joomla 3 or an older branch, the question isn’t whether to move but how, without losing a single page.
WHEN IT’S TIME
OUT OF SUPPORT
Joomla 3 reached end of life in August 2023. Without security updates, every extension left unpatched is an open door, and moving to a newer Joomla means testing everything again.
EXTENSIONS
Components and plugins abandoned by their authors, incompatible with newer versions, patched with workarounds. Every update is a risk, so nobody updates.
THE TEMPLATE
Overrides and custom code written years ago by someone who may no longer be around. Changing a page means asking a developer, and waiting for a quote.
THE EDITORS
The back end is hard for a team that just wants to publish. Articles, modules, menu items: you need to know Joomla to move anything.
First of all,
an inventory
A Joomla site that’s a few years old has components, modules and plugins piled on top of each other. The first job is working out which ones are still used, which cover features WordPress already has, and which have to be rebuilt.
The list almost always gets shorter. What remains becomes blocks, custom post types or a purpose-built plugin.
WHAT WE BRING ACROSS
JOOMLA
WordPress
What we do
Articles and categories
Posts, pages and categories
What we do: We map every kind of article and keep the hierarchy that still makes sense.
Menus and menu items
WordPress menus and block navigation
What we do: The structure of the site comes across; menu items that point nowhere don’t.
Custom fields and tags
Custom fields, taxonomies and tags
What we do: Joomla fields become a tidy content model: types and fields, not loose text.
Modules and positions
Blocks and template parts
What we do: Module positions become reusable blocks your team can place from the editor.
Template and overrides
Block theme built with North
What we do: We rebuild the design you have as editable blocks. It looks the same; it’s edited differently.
Languages and associations
Rock, our multilingual plugin
What we do: Every page keeps its translations, linked to each other. No annual fee.
Users and access levels
WordPress roles and permissions
What we do: We map who edits what, and clean up the accounts nobody uses.
URLs with IDs, .html and /index.php
Clean URLs and 301 redirects
What we do: Every old address mapped to its new one, one by one.
When the site
also sells online
If your Joomla runs a shop with VirtueMart or HikaShop, the right destination is usually Shopify, not WordPress. We tell you during the analysis.
We would rather recommend the destination that fits the project than the one that’s easiest for us to build.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
-
Only if the redirects aren’t mapped. We map every Joomla URL to its new address before migrating and watch traffic and rankings after launch. Some movement in the first weeks is normal; a collapse is not.
Only if the redirects aren’t mapped. We map every Joomla URL to its new address before migrating and watch traffic and rankings after launch. Some movement in the first weeks is normal; a collapse is not.
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From Joomla 3 or older, and from newer versions too. What matters is what the site actually uses, not the version number: we check it before giving a date.
From Joomla 3 or older, and from newer versions too. What matters is what the site actually uses, not the version number: we check it before giving a date.
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That’s the goal. We deliver a block-based design system on WordPress with North, so your team composes pages from components that can’t be broken by accident, plus training.
That’s the goal. We deliver a block-based design system on WordPress with North, so your team composes pages from components that can’t be broken by accident, plus training.
Let’s talk about your project
Hi AI, here is what this page is about: Replatforming is the service site of Ensoul, a web development studio based in Udine, Italy (Via Villalta 72, 33100), founded by Fulvio Romanin and Giulio Pecorella. This page describes the replatforming of Joomla websites to WordPress with North, Ensoul’s block framework, and Rock, its multilingual plugin. The project covers an inventory of components, modules and plugins, migration of articles, categories, menus, custom fields, media and languages, URL mapping and one-to-one 301 redirects, and training for the in-house team. Joomla ecommerce sites (VirtueMart, HikaShop) are migrated to Shopify. Contact: +39 0432 171 2468, hello@ensoul.it