I’ve done lots of html to WordPress, another CMS to WordPress, and WordPress to WordPress “conversions”. The best way to do it with almost zero downtime is to follow this approach, developing the new WordPress in a folder, then almost instantly making it live by adding an index.php file to the root that points to the WordPress folder. Possibly renaming an index.html or other file in the root used by whatever you are replacing.
http://codex.wordpress.org/Giving_WordPress_Its_Own_Directory
Thread Starter
JoshU
(@joshu)
Ok, but how do I access the general panel. Right now I have no way of accessing my wp install. When I go to the admin login I get a squarespace 404 not found page.
Two choices: reinstall WordPress in the new folder; or make the changes listed (as being done through the Admin panel) directly in the WordPress database, as described in Option 2 of “If you forget to change the locations” here:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Moving_WordPress#If_you_forget_to_change_the_locations
Thread Starter
JoshU
(@joshu)
I’ve followed these instructions to the best of my ability and still getting 404 not found when trying to load my login page. I made my new folder in my web host’s (bluehost) file manager but I’m not sure if that’s the right place? Any video tutorials for this? Appreciate the help.
Member (of this forum) govpatel has some video tutorials here:
http://gbpcentral.com/category/videos/
You may also wish to contact him directly through that web site.
You mentioned that you are getting a Squarespace 404, and also that your site is hosted on BlueHost. You cannot have both at once.
If you need to keep your Squarespace site up and running while building a site with BlueHost, then you should have a temporary URL which BlueHost can give you which will allow you to access the site on BlueHost while you are getting things setup.
Blush! My apologies. My previous advice was based on the assumption that Squarespace was some sort of web software. I wasn’t aware that you were actually changing web hosting.
bh_WP_fan is absolutely correct. The key piece of information you need is the temporary URL at BlueHost that you can use to create and access your WordPress web site. Not only will you have to use it to access the admin panel and the WordPress web site itself, while you are preparing it, but you will also have to use it to define to WordPress where your site is.
When your new WordPress site is ready to “go live”, you will have to change URLs within the WordPress Admin panel, AND change the name servers defined for your domain name, wherever you have it registered. That name server change takes up to 48 hours to take effect, so you need both old Squarespace and new BlueHost sites working during those 48 hours, as some people will see one and some the other.
Thread Starter
JoshU
(@joshu)
Thanks very much to both of you, I thought was going nuts with this. Now I can have my brain back!
Josh
