Test site possible before going live?
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I am wanting to switch from IX Webhosting to WordPress.com to save money. I have a domain name (donweixl.com) that I want to continue using. IX chargesw $20 US for the domain per year and $195 US per year for the site.
Can I build my new site on WordPress before I shut down my old site? I am planning on using a new responsive theme.
Will it cost extra for my email address to be don @donweixl.com using WordPress? I was thinking of using the Premium plan.
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Can I build my new site on WordPress before I shut down my old site? I am planning on using a new responsive theme.
Yes. However, there are no trial upgrades if that’s what you mean.
re: purchasing WordPress.COM upgrades
WordPress.com provides free blogs and hosts them free of charge. There are no bandwidth charges. All WordPress.com blogs come with 3000 megabytes (~3 GBs) of space for storing uploaded files and images. Free features are listed here https://en.wordpress.com/features/
We have 4 different plans: free, personal, premium and business. All hosting is free regardless of which plan you choose. You can view all wordpress.com plan features here https://wordpress.com/pricing/ Add a plan for each of your sites here: http://store.wordpress.com/plans/.
There are 3 ways to add a custom domain to your blog. Please note that an active WordPress.com plan is required to add a custom domain to your site. https://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/#getting-started
Details:
There are no trial upgrades, no monthly payment plans, no bulk deal upgrades, and no multiple year upgrades.
We are billed annually and we must pay for all upgrades in full at the time of purchase after selecting a plan.
Also note that purchase orders are not accepted.
Each upgrade bundle applies to a single blog only and is for a single year only when it is due to be renewed. (The only exceptions are one time upgrades for premium themes and guided transfers.)WordPress.com does not accept domain transfers but mapping an existing domain is possible. http://support.wordpress.com/domain-mapping/map-existing-domain/ The domain or mapping of any existing domain URL is included in the pricing for a personal upgrade, a premium and a business upgrade. The WordPress.COM upgrade for mapping a domain must be renewed annually.
WordPress.com does not provide an email service for blogs on their sub domains or on custom domains. Please see these support docs
https://en.support.wordpress.com/add-email/
https://en.support.wordpress.com/email-forwarding/How domain mapping works
Registering an underlying .wordpress.com URL first is required for domain mapping. What domain mapping does is providing a seamless redirect to the very same content under the new domain URL when a person clicks the old URL .wordpress.com to the original content. It can take up to 72 hours for domain propagation to take place throughout the internet but it doesn’t usually take that long. https://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/The Business upgrade which is the only plan that includes Google analytics also includes access to all premium themes. The Business plan also has other inclusions you can read about at:
Footer Credit Options https://en.support.wordpress.com/footer-credits/
SEO Tools https://en.support.wordpress.com/seo-tools/
However, note that there is no e-commerce capability under any plan here https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/small-business-website-1?replies=2#post-2804631.
When you upgrade from Personal to Premium or from Premium to Business you pay the difference between the two plans https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/domain-mapping-almost-impossible-to-understand-how-it-works?replies=4#post-2874012
Before you upgrade
Make sure you read the comparison very closely do you know exactly what the restrictions and limitations on WordPress.COM blogging are: http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/Also read Important Notes Before Upgrading http://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/#important-notes-before-upgrading
How to upgrade
You must be logged in as Admin http://en.support.wordpress.com/user-roles/#administrator under the exact same username account that registered the blog to access the blog’s dashboard, select a plan and purchase upgrades at > Dashboard> Store > My Upgrades
https://en.support.wordpress.com/my-upgrades/Your billing history will be at Dashboard > Store > Billing History
https://en.support.wordpress.com/billing-history/Your only options for payment are found here Payment Methods http://en.support.wordpress.com/payment/
refunds and cancelling upgrades
WordPress.com provides a 30-day refund on all upgrades except Domain Registrations, Domain Renewals, and Guided Transfers. The refund period for Domain Registrations and Renewals is 48 hours.Note: It takes from 1 – 2 weeks for the refund to be received.
You have to be logged in as Admin http://en.support.wordpress.com/user-roles/#administrator under the exact same username account that registered the blog to access the blog’s dashboard, cancel any upgrades, claim a refund for any qualified upgrades, and disable auto-renew. Dashboard > Store > My Upgrades. You can also disable auto-renew there. http://en.support.wordpress.com/my-upgrades/#canceling-upgrades
If you have any unanswered questions type modlook into the sidebar tags on this thread for a Staff follow-up. How do I get a Moderator/Staff reply for my question? https://en.support.wordpress.com/getting-help-in-the-forums/#how-do-i-get-a-moderatorstaff-reply-for-my-question Also subscribe to this thread so you are notified when they respond and be patient while waiting. To subscribe look in the sidebar of this thread, find the subscribe to topics link and click it.
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Thank you for help.
Why are some themes not available to use in the Premium package? I was hoping to use Photocrati. -
The premium upgrade does not include any premium themes that are licensed and code to run on wordpress.com software. They are separate purchases and are limited to these ones https://theme.wordpress.com/themes/sort/premium/
Photocrati is a third party theme licensed and coded for use only on wordpress.ORG software installs.
There is no FTP access to any wordpress.COM hosted sites and no blogger plugin or theme installation capability.
No FTP access http://en.support.wordpress.com/ftp-access/
No blogger installed plugins http://en.support.wordpress.com/plugins/
Themes »Uploading Custom Themes
http://en.support.wordpress.com/themes/adding-new-themes/You are confusing wordpress.COM hosted sites like yours and wordpress.ORG software installs on paid hosting.
The only themes we can use on WordPress.com hosted blogs are licensed and adapted to run on our multi user software the themes are found here http://wordpress.com/themes/ and in your dashboard at > Appearance > Themes
We cannot:
upload any third party themes,
create child themes,
create our own themes,
edit templates,
create own own layouts,
or use stylesheets from other themes.P.S. Also be keenly aware that you cannot transfer any theme from https://wordpress.com/themes/ which is licensed and adapted to run on WordPress.COM software to a WordPress.ORG site, and visa versa. The two run on different software and have different versions of themes with the same names. Read the differences here http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/
See Moving to Self-Hosted WordPress https://move.wordpress.com
The wordpress.ORG support forum link is http://wordpress.org/support/ The wordpress.ORG login link is here https://login.wordpress.org/ If you do not have an account yet then click Create an account https://login.wordpress.org/register/ and if you have lost an account password click Lost password? https://login.wordpress.org/lostpassword/
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Thanks for the info.
To be clear, I presently have a self hosted site using a Photocrati template . My web address is http://www.donweixl.com. I am looking to save money by switching to hosting by wordpress.com. From your response above, I see that wouldn’t be possible as Photocrati is not supported in wordpress.com.
Plan B would be to build a new website by purchasing a new premium template and linking my present domain name.
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I see that wouldn’t be possible as Photocrati is not supported in wordpress.com.
That’s correct.
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Plan B would be to build a new website by purchasing a new premium template and linking my present domain name.
That’s correct provided you choose to purchase a wordpress.com premium upgrade to map to your existing domain URL, move your existing content into the wordpress.com site, and purchase one of these premium themes only https://theme.wordpress.com/themes/sort/premium/
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What are the advantages of self hosting versus using wordpress.com as a host? Is there a downside to using wordpress.com as a host?
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My opinion is that there are none. However, many others will provide the opposite opinion.
WordPress.COM and WordPress.ORG are completely separate and have different username accounts, logins, features, run different versions of some themes with the same names, and have separate support documentation and separate support forums. Read the differences here http://en.support.wordpress.com/com-vs-org/
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WordPress.COM users have code restrictions. No JavaScript, no form codes, except this one https://en.support.wordpress.com/forms/contact-form, no iframes from unsupported sources or third party advertising codes, and no tracking codes, and no unsupported embeds can be used on any wordpress.COM hosted sites.
Please read:
https://en.support.wordpress.com/code/
allowed HTML tags list – https://en.support.wordpress.com/code/#html-tags
https://en.support.wordpress.com/code/#javascript -
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