Migrating Away from TangoCMS: A Practical Checklist
TangoCMS is no longer maintained, the official demo and manual sites are gone, and the software was written for PHP versions that stopped receiving security updates long ago. If a TangoCMS site is still online – perhaps a forgotten club or hobby site – moving it is the safest option. This checklist works for any old content management system, not only TangoCMS.
1. Secure what you have
- Make a full backup of the website files and the database (TangoCMS used a MySQL database). Store it somewhere offline.
- Take a list of all page addresses (URLs). A crawler tool or the site’s own menu and sitemap help. You will need this list to keep old links working.
- Save images and attachments from the uploads folder separately.
- If the site is publicly reachable and you are unsure about its state, consider taking it offline or putting it behind a password until the move is done.
2. Decide what to keep
Old sites often contain outdated pages. Go through your URL list and mark each page: keep, merge with another page, or drop. Fewer, current pages are better for visitors than a complete copy of everything.
3. Choose the new system
| Option | Good for |
|---|---|
| Hosted website builder | Small sites, no technical help, quick setup |
| WordPress or another maintained open-source CMS | Flexibility, many extensions; needs regular updates |
| Static site (pages generated as plain files) | Small sites that change rarely; fast, secure and cheap to host |
Whatever you choose, check that it receives regular security updates and lets you export your content later. A comparison for small organizations is in our guide Choosing a CMS.
4. Move the content
- Copy the pages you decided to keep. For a few dozen pages, copying by hand is often faster and cleaner than an automatic import.
- Review texts while you go: update dates, contacts and broken links.
- Re-upload images with meaningful file names and short descriptions (alternative text).
5. Keep old links working
This step is often forgotten. Other websites and search engines know your old addresses. For each old URL, set up a permanent redirect (301) to the best matching new page. Pages you dropped can redirect to the closest topic page. Do not send everything to the homepage.
6. Switch over and clean up
- Point the domain to the new site and test the most important pages and redirects.
- If you use Google Search Console or similar tools, submit the new sitemap.
- Once everything works, delete the old TangoCMS installation and its database from the server. An unused old installation is still an attack surface.
More about why TangoCMS should not be run today: security advisories.