Hi
I have some experience building custom themes on WordPress. The difference is that I always built those concepts myself. I was never given a website that is already built and asked to redesign it.
This website is already built by someone but apparently, they are gone now. The website is VERY SLOW (+15 seconds loading time) and it’s built using Elementor (+30 plugins active).
It looks like they installed a theme that came with loads of bloat.
The website has active licenses (Elementor Pro and ACF Pro).
The website is very small: only a basic homepage, a Discounts page and a single discount page to display the details of every discount.
What steps do you recommend I take before making any modifications? I have come up with a few ideas:
1. Take a full back up of the website (database + WP) just in case
2. Make sure all license keys are stored somewhere safely for any future reference if needed
3. Find out who put together the website in case I need any information in the future
4. Have access to the hosting/domain websites
5. Start the development process: create a local development environment on Local and build the new theme from scratch (shouldn’t take more than a few days since the website and information is very small)
Is there anything else I should keep in mind before starting or during the development phase?
Thanks
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I think you have a good plan so far. Be prepared for them to “like” the old version once your new theme is done. haha
Make a full duplicate staging copy and modify that, although if you’re building a new site what’s the point of working with an existing one?
Just be aware that the licence codes can still be revoked remotely by the licence holder.
I wouldn’t even bother working on the existing site, especially since there are extreme performance issues with no obvious cause. Just leave the old site untouched, and grab any content you may need from it as you’re building your fast clean new site.
If the current site is slow, it would be a bad idea to reuse it. Start from scratch.