Hortus
1 The new look
FoundA photograph in a rounded card, gradient buttons; copper text on white at 3.47:1.
NowA sticky header with the number and “Meniu”, the firm’s own photographs; of 4,463 text elements, none is below the WCAG AA line.
Moving off WordPress
Two sites, moved off WordPress
Hortus and In Favorem were rebuilt off WordPress: slow and faulty before, fast and fixed now.
In Favorem live since 13 October; Hortus built, checked, waiting for the switch The switch is one server setting, undone in about a minute. And the other way: WordPress with me
The old WordPress siteThe new one
Hortus
Business-sale advisershortus.lt
Home page on a slow phone
Old12.7sNew2.0s
Home page download, on a phone
Old2,135KBNew197KB−91%
On a phone: scrolling to the first tappable number
Old5,708pxNewin the header
In Favorem
Business centre, offices to letinfavorem.lt
Home page on a slow phone
Old6.3sNew2.3s
Home page download, on a phone
Old608KBNew276KB−55%
Pages where the phone number can be tapped
Old0of 23New23of 23
Measured on one machine, the same conditions for both. Not every page gains: Hortus’s services page on a computer weighs the same, and In Favorem’s home on a computer is only 7% lighter (bigger photographs).
Before the move: answers
Short answers to what owners ask first.
What happens to my old addresses and to Google?
For every old address that has a clear counterpart on the new site, I write a redirect and test it. An address with no clear counterpart is not sent just anywhere. I cannot promise a place in Google’s results.
What happens to my email?
Mailboxes are not part of hosting, so moving the site and the email are two separate things. Whether your current email stays untouched, I see in the audit, once I have read the domain records. If you want new email, I offer Zoho Mail: €2 a month per mailbox, paid a year ahead.
How long does it take?
For Hortus, a site matching the old one was running 7 hours 13 minutes after the decision; In Favorem’s move took one evening. The new designs took 3 and 4 days. I put the deadline in the order.
What does it cost?
Up to 10 pages €75, up to 50 pages €150, a blog with more than 100 posts €250. For a site of any other size I give the price before I start. With hosting or a site I build, the move is free. All prices are on the pricing page.
What if my old agency or developer will not give me access?
I can do the audit from public information: the pages, the domain records and the Internet Archive. What is not public (files, unpublished content) I cannot move without access. You give only the access the work needs. Send me the site’s address through the form on this page: from the audit I will tell you what can be moved without access and exactly which files or logins you would need to ask for.
What will I pay for hosting after the move?
From €10 a month for a site I built and from €15 for a site someone else built. Which applies to your moved site, I tell you with the price of the move, before I start.
Will the site stay up during the move?
Yes. The live site stays as it is; the new version is built on a separate address, closed to search.
The race: the home page on a slow phone
Real films, the same held-back phone: 1.6 Mbit/s, a 150 ms round trip, a processor four times slower.
What was wrong, and what is there now
The old sites are photographed from their own archives; the new ones are build copies.
OldphotographNewphotograph
Hortus
2 Blank without scripts
FoundWith scripts off, the home page was blank: heading and buttons invisible (15 fade-in blocks).
NowHeading, buttons and figures show without scripts.
Hortus
3 Counters at zero
FoundThe page arrived with its counters at “0 sandorių”, “0 mln. Eur”, “0 metų”: only the scripts showed the figures.
NowThe real figures – 150+, 200+, 20+ – are in the page itself.
Hortus
4 One heading
FoundAll 11 sector pages had the same heading: “Atlikti sandoriai”.
NowEach page’s heading is its own sector.
Hortus
5 Old links
Found2,175 real old addresses people still came in by returned “page not found”.
Now413 redirect rules, each replayed, send old addresses to the right page; one rule covers all 326 from before WordPress.
Hortus
6 Page title
FoundThe home page’s title was “Titulinis - Investment Banking Boutique”; 43 of 173 pages had no description.
NowA real title; 156 of 156 pages have a description of their own.
Hortus
7 Phone number
FoundOn a phone the first tappable number was 5,708 px down; the deals page ran 67 screens.
NowA Call / Write bar on the first screen; the deals page is 26 screens.
In Favorem
1 The new look
FoundA swirl-textured bar and one full-screen photograph: 1 word, no button; nothing said 2 of 27 offices were free.
NowThe heading and the free-office line are on the first screen; the main action is a button, “Apžiūrėti biurą”.
In Favorem
2 A flat floor plan
FoundA flat 469 × 226 px picture: no office could be pressed, and the 2 free ones were green words among 53 table rows.
NowEvery office can be pressed, with an “only free” filter; free offices are named on the home page’s first screen.
In Favorem
3 Menu on a phone
FoundNo menu button on a phone, and the phone number was plain text – not tappable.
NowA “Meniu” button on 13 of 13 pages; the number is tappable on 23 of 23.
In Favorem
4 Slideshow, gallery
FoundA slideshow of 2,315 KB; the gallery opened raw camera files (14, 26.7 MB).
NowThe first view on a phone is 346 KB; the gallery has 22 sized photographs with a viewer.
In Favorem
5 Spam via the form
FoundSpam through the contact form: 14 sends from 9 addresses in one day. A blind visitor could not use the captcha.
NowNo captcha; every enquiry is stored before it is mailed. Tested, but not yet faced with real traffic.
In Favorem
6 Server speed
FoundThe server took 0.79–0.84 s to build a page.
NowOn the build copy: 0.04–0.07 s, about ten times faster.
How it went
Hortus
One eveningto move it off WordPress
3 daysfrom three design directions to a working site
- 173 of 173 pages
- 902 of 902 media files
- 355 of 355 deals
In Favorem
One eveningto move it off WordPress
4 daysfrom three design directions to a working site
- 23 of 23 pages
- 78 of 78 images
- The owners only answered questionnaires and picked one of three designs.
- Hortus’s first copy matched every count but was missing menus, deal logos and part of the page text: comparing page by page caught it. The five faults a later audit found were fixed the same day.
- In Favorem was switched over on the morning of 13 October; Hortus is waiting on its owner’s answers and new photographs. Both are trial runs, done for family, so nothing is rushed.
And the other way
When you need WordPress
Sometimes WordPress is the right choice. I install it and look after it on my own server, and I can move a site I built into WordPress, so you edit it there.
WordPress with me
sped up
Full text of the film
- First, your email and name. No password needed.
- The link that creates the account comes by email.
- Open the link and the account exists.
- Choose the plan “Website with WordPress” and an address.
- The order is sent and the first invoice is issued.
- I check the order and approve it.
- The site is built automatically: server, certificate, and an email with instructions.
- This takes a few minutes.
- The site is ready. Now WordPress goes onto it.
- WordPress goes onto the empty site with one button.
- The administrator password is shown only once. You copy it.
- The install runs by itself: database, download, check.
- WordPress is installed. No known vulnerabilities.
- Every week the panel updates WordPress, its plugins and themes for you.
My site, into WordPress
sped up
Full text of the film
- You choose a site and see at once what will move to WordPress.
- And what will stay behind: that is said before you start.
- The live site is not touched. The new version appears at an address of its own.
- A login for the new WordPress is made too: the password is generated and shown only once.
- The panel makes the site, its certificate and WordPress.
- The site is read the way a visitor sees it: every page and every photo.
- A restore point is made first: if anything fails, the empty WordPress is put back by itself. Then everything is written.
- Old addresses are recorded so that nothing breaks.
- A theme is made from the site’s own styles, fonts, header and footer.
- Then it is checked, this time on the WordPress version: every page and every old address.
- Done. The preview is at an address of its own, closed to search engines.
- This is duende-wp.sudievu.lt.
- The differences are written down, with what stayed in HTML blocks. Both addresses can be opened and compared.
- Switching the live site comes later, with an undo.
Duende: the same site, inside WordPress
I built the Duende dance studio’s site. Its WordPress version looks the same, and you edit its content in WordPress.
- 53 of 53pages answer on the WordPress version
- 579photos moved into the media library
- about 10 minto read, write and check
The live site stays as it is; the version is at an address of its own, closed to search engines. Not carried over: analytics (so no cookie bar), the timetable’s editor and the contact form.
Is your site on WordPress?
Tell me its address and I start with an audit.
You will hear back within one working day.