Replacing old site with new wordpress site

Hi
I would leave the exist one until the new website is built. I would then install WordPress into its own directory.

Once you have finished building the WordPress version you can then remove the old files from the old website and then follow this link below:

Giving WordPress Its Own Directory

Maybe there are other ways but I’d use this method personally.

Colin

Thanks for the reply Colin.
Unfortunately I’ve already designed the new site with WordPress which I installed to a WordPress folder within cPanel.
I’ve saved everything that I’ve done in WordPress to a ‘draft’ and have not published it yet.
When you mention installing “WordPress into its own directory”, what exactly do you mean ?

Thanks

Hey greyhawk,

I believe Colin was referring to installing the WP files into their own folder, rather than directly into the “.com” folder, where they would be loose and intermingled with other files.

The link Colin provided tells you how to do that. If the DNS is already directed to the .com folder for the website, it’s just a matter of making a few changes and adding the WordPress index into the right place so that it pulls instead of the old index from the previous site.

Hi Kit,

Thank you for explaining that for me.
I guess my concern is: what if I’ve already installed wordpress into the root directory, designed the wordpress site, saved it all as a draft ?
The link that Colin provided gives the following instructions:

” Method I (Without URL change)

1) After Installing the wordpress in root folder, move EVERYTHING from root folder into subdirectory.

2) Create a .htaccess file in root folder, and put this content inside (just change example.com and my_subdir):

<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www.)?example.com$
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/my_subdir/
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /my_subdir/$1
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www.)?example.com$
RewriteRule ^(/)?$ my_subdir/index.php [L]
</IfModule>

Do they mean move every folder and file from the root folder, including the old TextPattern files, including the new wordpress folder, to a new subdirectory, leaving nothing in the root folder except for a newly created “.htaccess” file containing the content above ?
Please excuse my ignorance, I just don’t want to do something stupid and render the site unusable, or lose all the work I put into the WordPress version of the site.

Thanks !
Greyhawk

In those instructions, they are just talking about WordPress files & folders. Basically, you are just separating the WP items from the TP files at this point by moving ALL of the WP things into a new folder of its own. In this case, you would leave the old TextPattern files alone until you get ready to go live with the WP site, because you still need for them to be seen. Make sure you keep the “TextPattern index” with the TextPattern files.

Oh, and by the way, we were all new at this at some point. You’re trying something new and learning, which is great! So many people are too afraid to even try so keep up the good work. You can do this.

Thanks Kit…for the clarification and the encouragement.
Your guidance is much appreciated !
I’ll keep you posted.

You are very welcome! ?? Don’t forget to download all of your WP work to your computer (including the database) so you’ll have a copy of the files if there is an “Oops” along the line. That has saved me bunches of times.

Let us know if you need anything else.

Great advice !
Thanks Kit, I would not have thought of that. ??

Hello again,

Ok, I’ve created a new subdirectory for all the WordPress files.
I’ve moved all the contents of the WordPress folder into that subdirectory.
Bear in mind that I’ve already designed the site but only saved everything as a ‘draft’.

The instructions from Giving WordPress Its Own Directory direct me to create a new ‘.htaccess’ file in the root directory…however there is already an ‘.htaccess’ file in the root directory with the following content:
“# Use PHP54 as default
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php54 .php
<IfModule mod_suphp.c>
suPHP_ConfigPath /opt/php54/lib
</IfModule>”

Am I supposed to replace that file with the new one ?

And then, is the final step to publish the new WordPress site ?

Well, I went ahead and replaced the existing .htaccess file in the root directory with the new one according to instructions.
Nothing but 404 errors.
I tried to reverse everything I did and at least I can see the old TextPattern designed site but can’t find the WordPress installation with the login info.
It’s disappeared.
No clue what to do now…should have just left it for someone who knew what they were doing.

Thanks for your assistance folks.
Over and out,
Greyhawk