creating .html static page outside WordPress until site is ready

  • thecheen1

    (@thecheen1)


    12 years ago

    Preface: I hope this is the appropriate place for this question and an appropriate question–I am beginning a new site for someone that I will design myself from a theme.

    The client wants a basic static page, sort of like an ‘under construction’ page (but with an actual page that I have designed myself with html, not from a template) to be up while the full development of the site takes place. I am looking for simple ways to create this page completely on my own (in Dreamweaver probably) and have that page up as the homepage, with probably one other page to be linked to.

    My question, could I do it this way: create this static page outside of WordPress to begin with so that if people go to my site they see only the static page (I don’t want this to be a page within WordPress because I want total latitude in terms of design). I basically want this simple .html static page to serve as a placeholder until my WordPress dev is complete, then I will get rid of that page entirely and put in place the full WordPress site.

    One solution I thought of that may be naive or simply stupid: Could I begin by simply uploading these files into my root folder so that essentially you have index.html, with a link to one other page. And then, when the site is ready, map the WordPress site onto the domain and rid the site of that index.html?

    Or is there some way to accomplish my goal within WordPress (maybe redirect to these files from WordPress until the site is ready), i.e. being able to create a page wherein I don’t have to worry about header and footer sections that might make designing the very simple page they want up tougher to execute?

    I know this may a rather complicated matter (or not, I’m not sure?)

    Any info would be greatly appreciated.

    I think having the site linked to may not be relevant to this question, but it is for this site (which we may scrap and start from the beginning.):

    https://www.micahkellner.net

    Thank you so much in advance.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • W.P. Ginfo

    (@wp-ginfo)

    Hi thecheen1,

    You can do as you suggest: create a HTML-page and put in in the root of the site.

    The only problem with that is working on the site in WP will be difficult since the index.html will ‘catch all’. So when you want to work on the site you temporarily need to rename index.html to say 0index.html if you want to see the results of your progress in WP; and revert it to index.html after your session….

    Another way to have an ‘under construction page’ and work at the site, is to put the site in a different directory. Develop it there, and move the site to the root after completion.
    Checkout https://codex.www.ads-software.com

    adiant

    (@adiant)

    You actually don’t have to move the site to the root, but simply use this approach: https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Giving_WordPress_Its_Own_Directory#Using_a_pre-existing_subdirectory_install

    Personally, I think it is a better solution, long term, (than having WordPress in the root) as it keeps the root very clean.

    catacaustic

    (@catacaustic)

    If you’re only adding one extra page, and it’s an “under construction” page thats going to be there until the site is completed, the only thing that you need to do is upload the holding page as ‘index.html’. Once you do that your web server will automatically display that file instead of your WordPress home page. When you’re ready, delete that file and the live site will be actually live.

    The only drawback to this is that while you’re devloping, all of the ‘Home’ links on your WP site will point to the ‘under construction’ page. All you need to do is go to https://www.mysite.com/index.php and you’ll be able to see the WordPress home page.

    Thread Starter thecheen1

    (@thecheen1)

    Thanks so much for the help everyone.

    I’m still waiting for the go ahead to start this so haven’t tried these yet, but it sounds right and along the lines of what I was thinking.

    Much appreciated.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
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