my website can vote - the challenges of maintaining a 20-year-old website
TRANSCRIPT
My Website Can VoteThe Challenges of Maintaining a 20-year-old Website
20
20 frickin’
20 frickin’ years
December 1996
December 1996
6 months
2 years
3 years
3 years
3 years
3 years
3 years
4 years
4.5 years
Meanwhile…
5 years
5 years
5 years
Fast forward 14 years…
19 years
So what to do?
Pros
Pros• Security - better than what I had
Pros• Security - better than what I had
• PHP-based
Pros• Security - better than what I had
• PHP-based
• Responsive themes
Pros• Security - better than what I had
• PHP-based
• Responsive themes
• Plugins!
Pros• Security - better than what I had
• PHP-based
• Responsive themes
• Plugins!
• Better admin UX - including ACL & versioning
Pros• Security - better than what I had
• PHP-based
• Responsive themes
• Plugins!
• Better admin UX - including ACL & versioning
• Less friction to update
Cons
Cons• Security - WordPress is a big target
Cons• Security - WordPress is a big target
• Learning curve
Cons• Security - WordPress is a big target
• Learning curve
• Migration effort
Cons• Security - WordPress is a big target
• Learning curve
• Migration effort
• Ego - would using WordPress make me look like a n00b?
Concerns
Concerns• How to organise the site? How much of the
cross-referencing to automate?
Concerns• How to organise the site? How much of the
cross-referencing to automate?
“This has to be a solved problem, right?”
Concerns• How to organise the site? How much of the
cross-referencing to automate?
“This has to be a solved problem, right?”
• 20 years of inbound links and PageRank to preserve
Concerns• How to organise the site? How much of the
cross-referencing to automate?
“This has to be a solved problem, right?”
• 20 years of inbound links and PageRank to preserve
• Hard-coded HTML styles in the DB to clean up
The Plan
The Plan• Set up site on new host
The Plan• Set up site on new host
• Create basic site structure
The Plan• Set up site on new host
• Create basic site structure
• Read up on security
The Plan• Set up site on new host
• Create basic site structure
• Read up on security
• VaultPress & Wordfence
The Plan• Set up site on new host
• Create basic site structure
• Read up on security
• VaultPress & Wordfence
• Auto-updates
The Plan• Set up site on new host
• Create basic site structure
• Read up on security
• VaultPress & Wordfence
• Auto-updates
• Set up child theme and create nav menu
The Plan• Set up site on new host
• Create basic site structure
• Read up on security
• VaultPress & Wordfence
• Auto-updates
• Set up child theme and create nav menu
• Start migrating content
Migration
Migration• Start with simplest pages and sections first
Migration• Start with simplest pages and sections first
• Write functions where needed
Migration• Start with simplest pages and sections first
• Write functions where needed
• Required some plugins:
Migration• Start with simplest pages and sections first
• Write functions where needed
• Required some plugins:
• Advanced Custom Fields
Migration• Start with simplest pages and sections first
• Write functions where needed
• Required some plugins:
• Advanced Custom Fields
• Add Categories to Pages
Migration• Start with simplest pages and sections first
• Write functions where needed
• Required some plugins:
• Advanced Custom Fields
• Add Categories to Pages
• WP Gallery Custom Links…
More Plugins
More Plugins• Breadcrumbs -> Breadcrumb NavXT plugin
More Plugins• Breadcrumbs -> Breadcrumb NavXT plugin
• Calendar -> My Calendar plugin
More Plugins• Breadcrumbs -> Breadcrumb NavXT plugin
• Calendar -> My Calendar plugin
• Trivia Quizzes -> Riddle (+ plugin)
More Plugins• Breadcrumbs -> Breadcrumb NavXT plugin
• Calendar -> My Calendar plugin
• Trivia Quizzes -> Riddle (+ plugin)
• Polls -> WP-Polls plugin
More Plugins• Breadcrumbs -> Breadcrumb NavXT plugin
• Calendar -> My Calendar plugin
• Trivia Quizzes -> Riddle (+ plugin)
• Polls -> WP-Polls plugin
• Search -> Relevanssi plugin
More Plugins• Breadcrumbs -> Breadcrumb NavXT plugin
• Calendar -> My Calendar plugin
• Trivia Quizzes -> Riddle (+ plugin)
• Polls -> WP-Polls plugin
• Search -> Relevanssi plugin
• Timeline -> ???
Final Steps
Final Steps• Migrate all old news/blog posts
Final Steps• Migrate all old news/blog posts
• Set up Adsense and Analytics
Final Steps• Migrate all old news/blog posts
• Set up Adsense and Analytics
• Update the theme
Final Steps• Migrate all old news/blog posts
• Set up Adsense and Analytics
• Update the theme
• Set up .htaccess redirects
Final Steps• Migrate all old news/blog posts
• Set up Adsense and Analytics
• Update the theme
• Set up .htaccess redirects
• Change DNS to point to the new site!
Some numbers…• ~4500 page views/day
• 28% US; 25% UK; 6% AU
• 60% desktop;27% mobile; 13% tablet
• 84% via search;11% direct; 4% referral; < 1% social
• Most popular content: short stories; trivia quizzes; teacher materials
What’s Next
What’s Next• Set up SSL
What’s Next• Set up SSL
• Mop up broken links
What’s Next• Set up SSL
• Mop up broken links
• Add new content
What’s Next• Set up SSL
• Mop up broken links
• Add new content
• Update design once illustrations are finished
What’s Next• Set up SSL
• Mop up broken links
• Add new content
• Update design once illustrations are finished
• Keep an eye on stats & revenue
Thanks!
@web_goddess @RoaldDahlFans
Kris Howard
http://www.roalddahlfans.com