Creating a static site

Support
1

I have a friend with 2 sites using classic classicpress (ClassicPress 1.7.3) and we are trying to save the site and re-upload as a static site.

Most of the plugins either don’t work with classicpress this old (also her PHP is out of date, another reason to get this fixed ASAP).

Is there any suggestions on how to handle this, or just update as much as I can and hope nothing breaks. Last entry is 2018 and has a lot of memories for her.

Thanks

2

Welcome to ClassicPress!

I doubt it’s going to be as daunting as you’re painting it. Give yourself plenty of time and don’t rush. Remember that posts and pages are safely stored in the database and won’t be affected by updating ClassicPress. (Although you might be prompted to click a button to update the database, this won’t affect stored content; it’s to do things like add new tables.)

The first thing I’d do is make a list of the plugins used and paste them here to get suggestions for replacements. There’s almost certainly a viable replacement for any that won’t work with CP version 2, and some might be unnecessary anyway. Then make a backup or two of the whole site.

Then update PHP and check progress. If that doesn’t break things, use the Switch to ClassicPress plugin to update to version 2.7. (You might need to deactivate some plugins first to enable this to happen.) Then check progress again. (It’s important to check at each stage so that, if something does break, you know the cause, so that you can then go looking for an appropriate remedy.)

Now see what new plugins have been suggested to replace those that no longer work.

3

It’s my understanding you are looking for ways on how to migrate it from a CP v1 site to a static non-CMS site?

4

as already mentioned by @timkaye - all the data = content is stored safely in the database. So the first thing to do is BACKUP the database, store it separately + send a copy to the owner.

In theory, you could just recreate the existing structure as simple HTML files, or, if there is more flexibility wanted, keep some parts in PHP, like simple header / footer parts, and maybe a contact form.

What you could do is:

  • run a local MySQL / Webserver / LAMP setup
  • import the whole database
  • write some simple PHP scripts (or your preferred programming language) to export all the posts to HTML
  • either recreate the original website design, or just a simpler one in pure HTML + CSS + JS
  • combine the exported posts with the rest of the site - preferably using a specific template for them using the already prepared design drafts / templates

There are also several “staticize” plugin options, but they are meant to either 100% replace the original site or just parts of it, keeping most of the original CMS intact; which might be another choice, but feels vastly overkill for the purpose.

cu, w0lf.