Advice on changing a site design.

[Andwise]

Hello,

I would like to get some advice from experienced web developers. I have a new design for my site. Can you tell me what is the easiest way to update it while making sure all CGI scripts and everything else works properly with minima downtime for the site.

Your input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Andrew

[Kakarot720]

If you have the resources, create a development environment, locally, that is identical to your web host. Then upload all files, images, and scripts and test away.

If you don't have the resources to create a dev environment, I would break my site down into sections and upload each section piece by piece. Then check/test each section thoroughly to make sure everything is working properly before I moved on to the next section.

If your are fortunate enough to generate lots of traffic I would do the uploading of the new design when traffic is at it's lowest. Say between 2 and 4 a.m. You can determine when your traffic reaches a lull by analyzing your log files/web stats.

Almost forgot...Make a complete backup of your site. Just in case something does go wrong while you're uploading you can quickly replace the problematic file/script with the old one that you know definitely works.

Hope this helps...

[Manores]

I will not add anything, just wanted to say I completely agree with Kakarot720..

His words may be more convincing if somebody else (here me ) thinks the same way with him..

Good luck

[Andwise]

Thanks for the advice. It took me a while to get everything up and running in a test environment but it was worth to take less then 5 minutes to have it set up in a production environment.

It all went off without a hitch.

Thanks again,
Andrew

[Kakarot720]

That's good. I'm glad you were able to see the value of a test environment.