Best Site Redesign Method?

Good morning,

A friend has asked me to redesign his WP website. I’ve thought of 3 approaches but not sure which is best.

Method A: Redesign in place
1. Take site offline and backup.
2. Change theme, plugins and site structure as needed.
3. Move content to new locations as needed
4. Test
4. Put site back online

Method B1: Create theme and structure only of new site on local computer
1. On local computer, create new revised site but without the content.
2. Take existing site offline and backup
3. Upload and overwrite existing site with new theme and structure. Existing content will remain, hopefully.
4. Assume existing content will go to correct locations or fix as needed
5. Test
6. Put site back online

Method B2: Create whole new revised site on local computer
1. On local computer, create new revised site but without the content.
2. Take existing site offline
3. Download copy of existing content to local computer
4. Install content into new revised site on local computer
5. Test
6. Upload whole new revised site and completely overwrite existing site.
7. Test
8. Put site back online

Which method do you think is best or is there a 4th method?
Thanks

• This topic was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by Engine44.