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WordPress Local WordPress Development Local WordPress Development Migrating WordPress from Local to Live Server

Posted by Johnny Payne
Johnny Payne
716 Points

Using a subdomain to go live and FTPing files

2 questions

I am new at developing, so keep in mind some of the terms I use may be incorrect. Bear with me!

When I am about to FTP files into the public_html folder of my subdomain, I notice that I can see all the WordPress files from my main domain. How does the host/server know which files to access and serve? Does it have something to do with the database?

Also, when I FTP the files, does it matter if I FTP a folder/directory with all the WordPress files, or do I need to select all the files? Will the server/host be confused if the WordPress files are inside of a directory(which would be inside of public_html)?

Thanks for the help!

David Richied
David Richied
18,057 Points
David Richied
David Richied
18,057 Points

Hi Johnny,

I am not sure what you mean by subdomain, but your public_html folder is your main domain. By default, if someone goes to yoursite.com, they're directed to the public_html folder. To answer your first question, the host/server doesn't know which files to show (it goes to public_html by default). You have to specify which folder to go to in your URL. If you copy a folder called yourfolder with all your WordPress files into public_html, you'll have to type yoursite.com/yourfolder to get to that WordPress site. That also answers your second question. You'll have to copy all the files (and folders) of your WP site to the public_html file; otherwise, you'll have to type yoursite.com/yourfolder to get to the WP site. If you want to delve further into getting better at uploading your files to a server, I made a tutorial that has a lot of good links to other helpful tutorials, but be warned. It can get confusing, and it might take many days to figure out. It basically explains how I edit my local WP site and update it live.

http://davidrichied.com/2015/11/21/creating-a-local-wordpress-site-and-pushing-it-live-via-github-newbies-welcome/

I hope I was able to help. :D

~David Richied