I would like to change hosts for a website. How to leach info for use by the new host

[paugie]

the old contractor is hard to talk to, making updates difficult.
am thinking of changing contractor.
the new contractor says updating the website will be a lot easier.
now, there's a lot of info on the old website. is it possible for me to take the info from the old website for use in the new website? how to do it?

 

[Mercutio]

Does your old host offer FTP access? Usually the easiest way to grab everything is to just replicate the FTP directory structure.
Otherwise you can use some kind of spidering program, but if you do that you'll lose server-side scripts.

 

[Handruin]

the old contractor is hard to talk to, making updates difficult.
am thinking of changing contractor.
the new contractor says updating the website will be a lot easier.
now, there's a lot of info on the old website. is it possible for me to take the info from the old website for use in the new website? how to do it?

It can be fairly easy if your old host and your new host use cpanel/WHM as the administration backed. They have a migration tool to export and import from one host to another. That's how I moved this website years back. Otherwise FTP access like Merc suggested can also make it easier to migrate.

 

[Tannin]

What sort of site, Paugie? Static? Dynamic? What sort of stuff? (The right answer for you will be different depending on your data types.) Maybe the easiest might be to post the URL (or PM it to me if you don't want to do that) and we can figure it out from there.

 

[paugie]

oh boy, I am having to admit, I don't know anything about this. so I can't answer any of your questions.
the site is http://www.onesimo.ph/
As you will see, the site loads too slowly. But my greatest peeve is having to go through the contractor to post or change a bit of the site. I may probably be deluded but I was hoping there was an easy interface I could do what I needed to do (make changes).

 

[Mercutio]

There most certainly is, but what that interface might be depends on your hosting provider. Many hosts allow FTP and (UNIX) shell access for making changes, but some providers only have some kind of lame control panel or something. Either way you'll need a username and a password from the provider. Explaining to the hosting provider that you own the content and are in a dispute with the contractor might help, but it might also be the case that the contractor is paying for everything himself, in which case it's unlikely that you'll get any sympathy from the hosting company.

 

[timwhit]

It appears that the "website" is just a giant flash file with everything embedded in it. You will be better off paying someone to recreate your website in an accessible technology than trying to maintain what's already there.

 

[Mercutio]

Job security at its finest!

 

[timwhit]

I would look at getting a new ISP that offers an open source web content management systems such as Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress, etc. All three of these are fairly easy to use depending on what functionality you are looking for. They all support extensions to add functionality that isn't available by default. You can also find numerous templates to customize the look and feel.

 

[LunarMist]

Holy crap that site is slow. I went to the toilet and returned, and it was still loading. Galactic 8.9 is a little old, but still...

I hope you can get a better website. It looks like they are doing great work for the community.

 

[paugie]

ok.
it's good to know that my first feeling about changing to a different contractor is correct. my next step would be to tell the current contractor that their services (based on the judgment of my consultants (you guys) leave a lot to be desired and I am terminating their services.
I only hope we are able to retain the onesimo.ph domain (if that is what it's called). What does it cost to retain that, if ever?

 

[timwhit]

It's called the domain. I checked the whois on this domain, but couldn't see who really owns it: http://www.dot.ph/whois/onesimo.ph

The domain can to be transferred from whoever owns it now, if that party is amenable.

 

[Howell]

It's called the domain. I checked the whois on this domain, but couldn't see who really owns it: http://www.dot.ph/whois/onesimo.ph

The domain can to be transferred from whoever owns it now, if that party is amenable.

Since the domain is registered to the foundation, the registrar will usually transfer ownership after recieving the request on company letterhead if it comes to that. paugie, do you know a b.groehbie...

http://iwhois.webnic.cc/cgi/whois_captcha.cgi
Whois lookup for onesimo.ph.

Domain	onesimo.ph
Organization	Onesimo Foundation
Expiry Date	2016-11-04
Primary Contact Secondary Contact	b.groehbie...@...
Address	Neubergliweg Ettingen, Baselland CH
NameServers	dns1.supremedns.com dns2.supremedns.com

​

 

[Tea]

Holy cow! That is the worst website programming I have ever seen. And I mean ever!

 

[Tannin]

^ Tea does not remember 1998. There were web site designs as bad as ... well, OK ... maybe not as bad as this one, but very, very bad. They didn't last long. Seriously Paugie, this is fair-dinkum the worst bit of website programming I can remember. It is quite astonishing! It is also amazingly slow, and shockingly inefficient. The bandwidth it consumes to deliver a low-quality result is incredible. I'm surprised anyone ever waits for it to load. I certainly would not if it wasn't for your request. Normally, like most people, I'd wait for a reasonable time (a few seconds), then (maybe) wait for a long time (10 more seconds), then forget it. It really, really needs fixing. By the way, it appears not to be one ridiculously huge flash file, but several different ridiculously huge flash files!

 

[Tea]

The stupidity of the page designer/programmer has seen to it that you could undoubtedly win a prize somewhere for this page. Compare to the existing contenders and you will see that it has to be a hot favourite to take the grand prize!

What can you do?

Well, the first thing is to swap the web "designer" for a dog. After that, shoot the dog.

 

[Tannin]

Tea is right. But the second thing you should do is take screenshots of every page so that you have something to serve as a basis for your new site. There is nothing magic about the layout, but it is perfectly functional and if you have a record of it you can use that as a sort of checklist while you build the new one.

Next, you need to find someone to help you code up the new site. It's a pretty simple task by web coding standards, but a bit daunting if you are starting off on your own. Some of the guys here have recommended pre-made frameworks. I can't comment on any of them, I have never used one. They are certainly slower than a traditional hand-coded page - half the speed, maybe - but who cares? That is still going to be roughly 18,000,504 times faster than the amazingly bad flash rendition you have now and plenty fast enough.

You need a host. This is easy, I can recommend one I've used for years (based in Texas) but I'm sure there are lots of others.

Get yourself organised with whoever is going to help you with the new site first, before you take the old one down.

Oh, and you are going to need access to support materials - decent resolution versions of those same pictures you must have provided in the first place.

 

[Tea]

I changed my mind. Keep the dog.

 

[Howell]

I'm not sure it helps but the domain name contact is I believe Benjamin Gröhbiel of http://www.webon.ch/ according to a link from the original page to http://www.onesimo.ch/de/impressum.

whois: This information is subject to an Acceptable Use Policy. See http://www.nic.ch/terms/aup.html Domain name: onesimo.ch Holder of domain name: webon Gröhbiel Benjamin Neubergliweg 11 CH-4107 Ettingen Switzerland Contractual Language: German Technical contact: webon Gröhbiel Benjamin Neubergliweg 11 CH-4107 Ettingen Switzerland DNSSEC:N Name servers: ns1.webon.ch [194.150.248.139] ns2.webon.ch [194.150.249.97]

 

[Howell]

You should be able to back up the entire site this way. Just visit every link and then sort by last accesed.

http://www.wikihow.com/Save-Flash-Animation-from-Website

Drag the swf files to a browser window to view. The backup won't work exactly like the website but you'll have a backup.

 

[mubs]

Holy cow, everything one clicks on is Flash. Even I could have done a better job! How do people make a living with such crappy work? Paugie, dump this guy in a big hurry.

 

[paugie]

Oh, Wow! I will have to find someone to delegate this to or maybe....

Thanks Howell. Ben... Groh...l is someone I know. I will email him. So, the Foundation owns the domain through him and that is a great relief. I think he will be able to support me in what I need to do to rectify the problems.
Now as to getting someone to revise the website and get it on a new host, hmmmm.... I will try to get that done starting Monday.
Thank you everyone for the great feedback. Though I am tempted to show the contractor some choice clips, I think that is not a good idea. It is a surprise that one who actually wanted to have others view a site to inform them of the wonderful work our foundation is doing and invite them to support that work would encode the website in such a way as to preclude access. Whew! I am very disappointed.
Thanks for opening my eyes.