Use format and content of working site to new site

Hello,

It took forever for me to customize this site:

ecosystems-research-and-management-center.org

so what I would like to do is use the database and content of the above site for a new site that I just installed:

bosne.american-odyssey.net/news/

to have the same layout. Some of the contents will be relevant too.

I know I have to export the database content of ecosystems-research-and-management-center.org

then import it to the database of bosne.american-odyssey.net/news/

Also, I made the prefix for the tables to be the same.

What should be the format of the database exported?

Do I erase the quick start database in the bosne.american-odyssey.net/news/ before importing the database coming from ecosystems-research-and-management-center.org?

How do I keep the username and password I used in the quick start installation of bosne.american-odyssey.net/news/ so that it is not overridden by the username and password used in the ecosystems-research-and-management-center.org

For the configuration.php, I know I have to change some stuff like username, password, URL, etc. But how about the "public $secret = 'sssseeecccrrreeettt';" word?

Would the changes in the configuration.php make the changes in the imported database from the ecosystems-research-and-management-center.org

I will be doing this jumpstart of the layout and content to create new sites a lot, so any help on this would be much appreciated.

Please respond only if providing constructive suggestions on the questions asked. [I had previous posts that became "dead end" because someone decided to suggest some other stuff rather than respond to the inquiries.]

Thanks.

Cornelio

On this site:
bosne.american-odyssey.net/news/
you have clean quickstart. If you replace it's database with one from your old site, it will not differ from the situation, where you install only template on old site and adjust it - all settings of modules, menus etc are kept in database, so the idea you have presented will not work.
Perhaps it would be better to export and import only article content? Please check this article:
http://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?f=615&t=788805
or similar ones for more help.

Thanks Cyberek,

I tried it differently, after creating a new database and username, what I did was copied the files and directories from the working
ecosystems-research-and-management-center.org
then I added the installation directory from the Quickstart that I downloaded.
then I tried to install:
http://bosne.american-odyssey.net/ermc/installation/
but it did not work.

Are there other files and directories that I need to add to initiate the installation?

Cornelio

Update:

This is working now. The solution was as outlined in my first post.

Thanks.

Cornelio

Is the layout working fine?