Understanding Your First Website Transfer: Key Tips and Best Practices
Embarking on Your First Website Migration: What You Need to Know
Navigating your first experience with a transferred website can be both exciting and challenging. If you’re stepping into a role that involves managing and customizing a website that isn’t static, it’s essential to approach the task with informed strategies to ensure a smooth transition and ongoing success.
In this post, we’ll cover crucial aspects to consider, common pitfalls to avoid, and practical tips to prepare your development environment, especially when working within hosting limitations such as cPanel.
- Assess Your Hosting Environment and Access Limitations
Since your server is cPanel-based, you’ll likely have access to file management tools, but not root-level access. Typically, this means you can upload and modify files within the public_html directory and manage databases via phpMyAdmin. Be cautious: direct server configuration changes—like SSL setups or port configurations—may require support from your hosting provider.
- Understand the Current Website Structure and Codebase
Your site uses a custom PHP-based CMS with PHP 7.4, which may include tangled code (“spaghetti code”). Before making design changes, it’s wise to:
- Map out the existing folder structure.
- Identify core PHP scripts, templates, and themes.
- Separate PHP logic from HTML, CSS, and JavaScript where possible to simplify future modifications.
Refactoring the code gradually can make your modifications safer and more manageable.
- Setting Up a Local Development Environment
To safely test changes, create a local replica of the website. Tools like WAMP (Windows), MAMP (Mac), or LAMP (Linux) can be suitable for this purpose. Ensure you:
- Download all website files from the server.
- Export the database via phpMyAdmin or command-line tools.
- Match your local environment’s PHP, MySQL/MariaDB, Apache, and PHP version numbers to the live server to avoid compatibility issues.
By mirroring the server environment, you minimize surprises when deploying updates.
- Managing SSL and Security Considerations
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is critical for website security and trust. On a shared hosting environment, SSL certificates are often installed via the hosting provider’s control panel. You should:
- Confirm whether SSL is active and correctly configured.
- Test your site over HTTPS locally; for local testing, you can generate a self-signed certificate.
- Understand the importance of redirect rules to enforce HTTPS.
Knowing how HTTPS impacts resource
