How do you build your wordpress sites?

[Simon.P]

Do you build locally using something like XAMPP and then upload to host when complete or upload to sub-domain and place something in the robots.txt to stop search engines whilst it is being worked on and before its moved?
Happy new year!

 

[arnydnxluk]

Generally develop locally and deploy changes as required to production.

However for WordPress websites, which for me are always very simple, low traffic marketing websites, I'll often just edit/develop in production rather than having to deal with different environments. In this case, I'll use basic auth via .htaccess to restrict access to the website during development (on a preview.* or dev.* subdomain if necessary).

Happy New Year!

 

[fisicx]

I’ve got a development domain and just create sub domains for each new project. That way I can give clients a login so they can add their content and play with the various features.

Search engines are blocked using the checkbox in the settings.

 

[Simon.P]

Thanks both, much appreciated. I see there are a few plugins to re-write the urls to allow this.

 

[fisicx]

You don't any plugins to do this. In fact the fewer plugins you use the better.

 

[Simon.P]

You don't any plugins to do this. In fact the fewer plugins you use the better.

Maybe i am missing something, but on installation of wordpress you enter the url. So in my case at the moment that is: localhost or dev.mydomain.co.uk
When uploading to livedomain.co.uk some method is required to correct the urls within the site.

 

[fisicx]

Sorry, I misunderstood your post. Everything you need to know is here: https://codex.wordpress.org/Moving_WordPress

I use the duplicator plugin to move the site to the new server and then a search and replace plugin to update the database links. Both of these can be deactivated and uninstalled after moving the site.

 

[Simon.P]

Thank you Fisicx, much appreciated.

 

[Alan]

As per @fisicx I used to have a dev domain, but now I use localhost as I have converted my PC to Linux so it is a really fast way of building and more importantly easy to link xdebug to my IDE for easy PHP debugging.
I also use duplicator plugin to release to live, it is simple and fast. There are other similar tools.

 

[g]

A quick clarification of earlier points...

...place something in the robots.txt to stop search engines...

...search engines are blocked using the checkbox in the settings.

Not so, because the checkbox and robots file are advisory, which search engines can ignore.

 

[fisicx]

Yes, but they don't ignore the settings so it's all good. I've got a shedload of wordpress test sites that Google (and Bing) know nothing about.

 

[g]

Yes, but they don't ignore the settings so it's all good. I've got a shedload of wordpress test sites that Google (and Bing) know nothing about.

Granted, major ones usually respect - and the ones which don't are usually so small as to be insignificant.

Overall though, 'we should be ok, because it's dark and there's nobody around' is not a reliable method.

 

[fisicx]

So how would you do it?

 

[arnydnxluk]

Overall though, 'we should be ok, because it's dark and there's nobody around' is not a reliable method.

I would agree with this and it's an important point to make given that not everyone on UKBF is a professional. If you don't want major search engines indexing your website but don't mind people coming across it, the robots.txt method is fine. However for anything important, e.g. you don't want customers to ever see your development website for any reason, then you protect the website appropriately, i.e. username/password authentication or at least IP address whitelisting. It's not the purpose of robots.txt to protect anything considered to be private.

 

[g]

So how would you do it?

As mentioned by arnydnxluk, I use password authentication... usually through the .htaccess file, or, in some cases, through an appropriate plugin.

 

[fisicx]

All well and good, but many people won’t havd access to htaccess (a limitation of their hosting).

So another simple method would be to install a ‘under maintenance ’ plugin or similar.

 

[g]

All well and good, but many people won’t havd access to htaccess (a limitation of their hosting).
So another simple method would be to install a ‘under maintenance ’ plugin or similar.

It's a good point, and though I can only recall a very few instances, and from years ago, where even budget hosting didn't have such access, I'm sure some still exist.

From memory, I think the password-protect plugin I've sometimes used would be of similar effect to the 'under maintenance' you mention.

 

[AWA Training]

i followed some excellent online tutorials on how to develop a Wordpress site around an existing theme. I use 2016 for many of my sites. They are a bit clunky, but they are functional and they work.

That said i have a local installation where i am learning the art of adding a background image, improving the overall feel without having to radically change it.

Though i submit, due to the fact that one of these is doing well on Google i might hand it to an expert to develop it properly. Perhaps a task for next year.

 

[fisicx]

2016 is now very dated. There are far better themes you can use. Don't bother with background images, thy don't add anything to the UX. The content is far more important (and your sites are badly lacking in this).

 

[AWA Training]

Thanks for the feedback fisicx

 

[AWA Training]

Which other theme would you recommend fisicx?

 

[fisicx]

That all depends on your content. Looking at both the sites in your signature I can see a whole load of things that could be improved. This would help with conversions and lead to a decision on which theme to use. The key thing to consider is how the site responds to tablet and phone use.

I build my own themes so I'm not the best person to ask about theme suggestions. But I'd always go for simple layouts.

 

[AWA Training]

What improvements would you make fisicx? Please feel free to pm.

 

[fisicx]

I can do but better if you ask for a website review. That way you will get the opinions of more people. But don't post this evening as very few people are around. Do it around 9am in the morning.

 

[AWA Training]

I have heard about these! (that is also reflected in your signature!) think I will pass thanks!

But i note it needs attention, so thanks for that!

 

[fisicx]

What I meant was for you to post on the UKBF Website Review forum. There are lots of things need attention on your sites. Some of them quite major.

 

[jazperson]

If it's my own website, I just build it directly (live site). If it's for my client, I use a temporary folder and then move it to the main domain.

 

[JRyan]

I installed wordpress and built my blog site manually on a Vultr VPS using VPSrobots panel.

 

[obscure]

My host offers staging as part of their package. You can create a new install in a sub directory, work on that, without disturbing your live site, until ready, and then click to deploy.

 

[Neromare Works]

Do you build locally using something like XAMPP and then upload to host when complete or upload to sub-domain and place something in the robots.txt to stop search engines whilst it is being worked on and before its moved?
Happy new year!

I quit doing that. A lot of times, when a website is completely built - a lot of things will break when moving. You'll need to manually change links from the local path to the new domain - from inside the phpMyAdmin, and it doesn't always works as expected. Some plugins break nonetheless.

 

[fisicx]

You'll need to manually change links from the local path to the new domain - from inside the phpMyAdmin,.

No you don’t. I use a search and replace plugin that does it all for me. Or the duplicator plugin that manages the move. Never had a website break moving it from one place to another.

 

[Neromare Works]

No you don’t. I use a search and replace plugin that does it all for me. Or the duplicator plugin that manages the move. Never had a website break moving it from one place to another.

It doesn't replace all strings. I've tried 2-3 different plugins, and every one of them replaces different strings. If you were a SPECIALIST, you should've known that. I won't even start arguing with you because pointless arguing is where you win. You are a "know-all." No hard feelings, just my observations about you.

 

[Kerwin]

Now that most of the big initial bugs with Wordpress 5.0 have been fixed I'm quite happy with the new experience. I've just started work on a new blog, and I think I can do what I want pretty quickly with the new features.

The only problem I have at the moment is where to host my video files. I've been told a Vimeo Pro plan is the way to go, but I might end up hosting the videos myself on my VPS.

 

[Alan]

why don't you start a new thread rather than opening a thread that has been dead 5 months?

 

[billybob99]

It doesn't replace all strings. I've tried 2-3 different plugins, and every one of them replaces different strings. If you were a SPECIALIST, you should've known that. I won't even start arguing with you because pointless arguing is where you win. You are a "know-all." No hard feelings, just my observations about you.

Since you reopened this badboy.

Maybe he has built his own plugin or happens to be using one that just works.

 

[Rainbinder589]

I am not sure what was asked there, as for me I am usually develop them simply on the fly. It's mainly my affiliate websites with lot of content per site, upto 50 pages and some images and maybe several videos with ligh themes so it's easy question for me.

 

[Alan]

Maybe he has built his own plugin or happens to be using one that just works.

Maybe it is because he knows what he is talking about and can read, it isn't difficult - it is in the documentation.

You'll need to manually change links from the local path to the new domain - from inside the phpMyAdmin, and it doesn't always works as expected. Some plugins break nonetheless.

This is completely wrong way of doing it. The correct way is covered in the support documents https://wordpress.org/support/article/moving-wordpress/

 

[obscure]

It doesn't replace all strings. I've tried 2-3 different plugins, and every one of them replaces different strings.

I too have used Duplicator several times and it works fine.