Hi,
Please forgive me if this is a dumb question.
I was recently hired to redevelop a WordPress site from scratch but the previous developer is being very bitter and not sharing as many details as I want.
Right now he says I should develop the site using an IP address and once the site is developed he will update the DNS details so that the domain points to the new site.
Could someone please advise me if I can access the site using an IP address? I have a GoDaddy Ultimate Linux Shared Hosting Plan.
Can I build the website using the IP address and access the admin dashboard?
Once the site is complete and he updates the DNS details of the domain, will everything work as normal or do I have to do something then too?
Have I missed anything?
Your assistance is greatly appreciated.
Thank you
>Can I build the website using the IP address and access the admin dashboard?
Yes. Then, once you’ve finished and the DNS is pointing to the site, install Better Search Replace plugin and run it to change from the IP address to the proper domain name.
I think it depends on how your server is set up but try it. In theory it should work as IP addresses are also computer versions of URL’s. The URL is just the human friendly version.
Do you know the ip address to try? You can just load it in the browser like a regular URL and check. When I do this with my own WP site it doesn’t work so I assume my server says I cant do this. Although when I enter [google.com]) IP address then it does load. So, try and find out.
If you dont know the IP address you can use your command line to find it. Just type, ‘ping [www.google.com](https://www.google.com)’ without the quote marks into command line and it should spit out the IP address for you to try.
You could do it with an IP then search/replace after. Alternatively, you could spin up a WordPress docker container and add in a hosts entry that points the domain back to 127.0.0.1. You’ll have no access to the real domain, but you will be able to access your dev environment and develop it as if it were on the real domain. Just an idea.
Yes, that is possible, and there wouldn’t be any issue. You can also use service like [InstaWP](https://instawp.com)for developing websites and migrate when the development is done.