“Just upload the website.” … If only it were that simple. 😅
Recently, I took a custom WordPress based website from a local development environment to a live production server. Coming from a purely front-end environment I quickly learrned that the development itself was only one part of the process.
A production deployment involved:
Preparing the website.
- Before anything moved to production, the site needed to be tested across screen sizes, links and forms checked, content reviewed, functionality validated, and unnecessary development artefacts removed.
Preparing the hosting environment
- The production server needed to be configured correctly for the website, including the hosting account, PHP environment, database, file structure, domains, SSL, and email considerations.
Migrating WordPress
- WP isnt just a collection of files. A complete migration involves the WP core, my custom theme, plugins, uploads, database, configuration, URLs, users, and everything connecting those pieces together.
DNS and domain configuration
- The domain needs to point to the correct production infrastructure. This is where DNS records, nameservers, propagation, and server configuration become part of the development process.
Database and URL configuration
- Moving environments can introduce incorrect URLs, broken references, database configuration issues, and other inconsistencies. These need to be identified and tested rather than assuming the migration worked because the homepage loads.
Security
- Production is different from localhost. SSL needs to be working, unnecessary access should be restricted, credentials handled appropriately, forms protected against abuse, software kept up to date, and the site configured with security in mind.
Functional testing
- Then comes the part that is easy to underestimate: Test. Everything. Navigation. Forms. Mobile layouts. Embedded media. Links. Images. Contact functionality. Interactive elements. Error states. And then test it again.
SEO discoverability
- A technically functional website isnt necessarily a discoverable website. Production configuration also needs to account for indexing, metadata, search-engine accessibility, redirects where necessary, sitemap configuration, and search performance monitoring.
Final production checks
- Only after the technical, functional, security, and content checks are complete is the website really ready to hand over. And even then, deployment isnt necessarily the end. Its the beginning of maintaining a production system.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve taken from client work is that building a website and deploying a website are two different engineering problems.
The first is about creating the product. The second is about making that product operate reliably in a real world environment. Thats a distinction I think every developer eventually learns: localhost means little if production can’t prove it.