WordPress localhost development best practices

  • Hello,

    Thank you for your time. I am developing a wordpress site using XAMPP as a local web host. Once the site is complete, I will upload it to my webhost.

    I am trying to learn the best way to maintain/develop the site using my local dev environment. In the future, I expect to use new plugins and possibly new themes. When that happens, there will be database updates. Will I have to install new plugins/themes manually on both local and remote web hosts? Or can I install locally, then upload the new plugin/theme directory and database file? I am worried about overwriting my production database. What is the best way to preserve data a simplify site development?

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

  • You can upload the new plugin/theme directory and database file from your local to the live server. That’s what I do.

    Thread Starter surfitin10

    (@surfitin10)

    Thank you for that Christine, but if you copy over the database file from the local to the live server, will that not overwrite the data on the live system (i.e. user names / email address from people who have signed up for a newsletter)?

    Depends how the newsletter sign up is gathered. For newsletter sign up, I would recommend that you use a newsletter service like campaign monitor, constant contact or mailchimp. When people sign up through that service, their info is not added to the WordPress database.

    Thread Starter surfitin10

    (@surfitin10)

    I understand that using a third party service could solve the newsletter issue; however, what about posts/comments/other data that is developed on the live site? Will this data be preserved if I copy over a new db? If not, I assume it means I will have to install new plugins directly to the live site and test there.

    Thread Starter surfitin10

    (@surfitin10)

    I am also interested in using permalinks for better SEO, but I’m not sure there is a way to do this on my local development environment without using “localhost” explicitly in the permalink URL. Is it possible to use permalinks that can be tested locally and that will still work on a live site? Thanks again!

    Thread Starter surfitin10

    (@surfitin10)

    Also, for future reference of anyone reading this post, this Codex page tells you how to maintain the WordPress db between development and production servers:

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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