How can I work on a totally new lay-out ‘behind the scene’?

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  • #3743035

    hovawart5
    Member
    Original poster

    I have had a wordpress.com blog for years now, and I want to rebuild it into a site, using a new theme, building new pages etc., but keeping my existing blog in the air as it is now untill everything is finished. I looked for answers in Help Subjects, but didn’t find any.

    Site: https://hovawartvandehuppelhoeve.wordpress.com.
    WP.com: Yes
    Correct account: Yes

    #3743203

    musicdoc1
    Member

    Hi,

    You can create another site in the same account, or in another account if you prefer, and activate the theme of your choice on it. Then you may export content from the first site, and import it to the second, or start from scratch on the second.

    See the Create a Site page, and the following support pages for relevant information and instructions:

    #3743204

    musicdoc1
    Member

    Let’s try that list again:

    #3743206

    musicdoc1
    Member

    You can also keep the second site hidden if you like, by choosing either the “Coming Soon” or the “Private” option, as described in the Privacy Options section of the Privacy Settings support page.

    #3743318

    hovawart5
    Member
    Original poster

    Oh, thank you very much! That ‘export-import’-thing was wat I missed, and that possibility within Privacy settings. I’m going to read those links thouroughly.

    But what do I do with naming the second site in the same account? I was so stupid to already change the name of my blog into the name I certainly want for my (new) site? (As you can see it is not a real domain, but a name ‘under the wings’ of WordPress.com)

    #3743570

    musicdoc1
    Member

    As you can see it is not a real domain, but a name ‘under the wings’ of WordPress.com

    Are you referring to the site https://hovawartvandehuppelhoeve.wordpress.com/? Since it’s now in “Coming Soon” status, as a volunteer I don’t have access to it. So I don’t what it’s “name” is. I presume you’re referring to the site title.

    But what do I do with naming the second site in the same account?

    It would only be a problem if you had changed the site address (URL) to something that you wanted to use on a second site. That would eventually require you move the content of the new site, when you’re ready, to the old site, in order to preserve that URL.

    Site titles are not unique. You could use the same site title on many different sites.

    It also occurs to me that, if it’s the URL that you want to have include the phrase “under the wings,” then it might be possible to create a site with a free subdomain such as underthewings.home.blog, even though underthewings.wordpress.com already exists. I could call for staff attention to the topic if you’re interested in finding out whether that is possible. Free .blog subdomains were introduced in 2018 for use on WordPress.com.

    #3743643

    hovawart5
    Member
    Original poster

    Yes, it is ‘under construction’ now, after your hint to change that in my Privacy settings while working on it.
    And yes, I’m talking about the site ‘https://hovawartvandehuppelhoeve.wordpress.com/’ . I’ll try to be a bit more clear : I refered to it as ‘under the wings of WordPress.com’ because I don’t own the domain myself, it belongs to the WordPress domain and I added the prefix ‘hovawartvandehuppelhoeve’ (so as I read it in your link above, that is called a subdomain)
    That is the name I want to keep (the site adress, url, subdomain I mean), so I don’t know whether that could be transferred to a the new site (once that is ready and the old one could be taken down) made under the same account?

    #3743683

    musicdoc1
    Member

    Thanks for the clarification. : )

    I don’t know whether that could be transferred to a the new site (once that is ready and the old one could be taken down) made under the same account?

    No it can’t be. WordPress.com doesn’t allow reuse or transfer of subdomains. This is why I said above,

    It would only be a problem if you had changed the site address (URL) to something that you wanted to use on a second site. That would eventually require you move the content of the new site, when you’re ready, to the old site, in order to preserve that URL.

    At one time, deleted site addresses could be reused after two years(!) had passed, but I believe that practice was discontinued.

    I’ve called for staff attention to the topic, and staff will respond here. Perhaps they can explain WordPress.com policy on this more definitively.

    #3743724

    hovawart5
    Member
    Original poster

    Thanks again fot the answer! As I’m stuck to my old site then (because it has already the url I want) I’m trying to work around it now by activating a new theme (Hever) were – as I understood – you also have a ‘Posts Page’ ( = blog), but I’m having troubles there also, because my ‘old’ blog page doesn’t show up as a real page, so I cannot set it as ‘Posts page’ in my ‘home page settings’ (I want a static homepage).

    #3743763

    musicdoc1
    Member

    my ‘old’ blog page doesn’t show up as a real page
    That’s true regardless of the theme used on any WordPress.com site. I think you’ve misunderstood how the homepage settings work. When you choose to display a static homepage, and select another static page as your posts page, that static page is transformed into a dynamic page that displays the posts. It displays the same posts as the default blog page, all of them, in reverse-chronological order.

    You can choose any static page as the posts page at Customize > Homepage Settings and it will become the posts or blog page, until a different page is chosen, whereby it returns back to a normal static page.

    #3743766

    hovawart5
    Member
    Original poster

    Yes, you’re right, I misunderstood it! I just found out about my mistake a couple of minutes ago, I changed it and it works fine now.

    Thanks!

    #3743768

    musicdoc1
    Member

    Great! Glad to help : )

    It was a surprise to me too, years ago, when I discovered the default blog page had no page associated with it. I used to call it a ghost page. An analog to the ghost blog page is the ghost default portfolio page. It can’t be found among the site’s pages, but you can make it appear, seemingly out of nowhere, by appending “/portfolio” to the site URL (presuming portfolios is enabled on the site and there is at least one portfolio project published).

    I’ve always considered the default blog page an archive page, because category, tag, date, and author archive pages are “ghosts” in the same way. They can’t be found anywhere in the administrative interface, yet you may provide links to them in a menu so that any visitor can view them.

    #3743770

    hovawart5
    Member
    Original poster

    So you do understand my confusion ;-) .

    Not the logic my brain uses :-) .

    #3743829

    csonnek
    Staff

    @hovawart5 – it looks like @musicdoc1 got you sorted out after all! :)

    Let us know if we need to clarify anything else.

    #3743844

    hovawart5
    Member
    Original poster

    On your first sentence : yes, he sure did!

    Second sentence : no worries, my next questions are already on their way…….. sorry ;-) !

    #3743944

    musicdoc1
    Member

    @hovawart5,

    Have you considered using an URL such as https://hovawartvandehuppelhoeve.home.blog on the new site. I’d suggested this possibility previously in Reply #3743570 above, but I wasn’t sure it was allowed.

    After I thought about it, I recalled that enabling the use (or reuse) of a prefix previously used on a “wordpress.com” type of subdomain, including on deleted sites, was perhaps the main reason that free .blog subdomains were introduced in 2018 for use on WordPress.com. The “home.blog” domain that I suggested is just one of many alternative .blog domains. They are listed near the bottom of the Announcing Free .blog Subdomains article at WordPress.com News.

    #3743945

    musicdoc1
    Member

    Correction: The list of available .blog domains appears near the top of the article, not near the bottom.

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