(Updated 6/2/16 2:30 PM)
We are excited to announce the WP-EZ Migration Tool is now available and can be used to copy Gold and free NE1 websites into our new WP-EZ Website Builder!
You may have some questions about migrating websites from NE1 to WP-EZ, so we’ve created this Frequently Asked Questions post to answer your questions.
Q) What is this WP-EZ Website Builder you speak of?
It’s WordPress made easy. We’re pretty excited about it! Read more about the WP-EZ Website Builder here.
Q) How does the migration from NE1 to the WP-EZ Website Builder work?
The migration is a simple 3-step process:
- Migrate. Login to your MyOCC Dashboard, click the “Website Builder” option in the left menu, then click the “Migrate to WP-EZ” link to the right of your website address. You will select a theme for your WP-EZ website (which you can change any time you like). Then the migration tool will copy your menu, all of your pages, all of your media and most of modules/plugins from your NE1 website into WP-EZ. Visitors to your website will continue to see your NE1 website.
- Tweak. Edit your WP-EZ to get it looking the way you want it. During this step you will also need to setup the parts of your website that can’t be copied over to WP-EZ automatically. Visitors will continue to see your NE1 site while you tweak your WP-EZ website.
- Activate. When you’re ready to make your WP-EZ website live, login to your MyOCC Dashboard, click the “Website Builder” option in the left menu, then click the “Activate WP-EZ” link. This will disable your NE1 website and set up redirects from the NE1 URLs to the WP-EZ URLs of your web pages. When visitors go to your website, they will now see your WP-EZ website.
Q) What parts of my NE1 website will not be automatically copied over to WP-EZ?
We have done everything we can to make the transition from NE1 to WP-EZ as simple as possible. Unfortunately, not everything can be copied over automatically. These are the aspects of NE1 websites that cannot be automatically copied:
- Template/theme. WP-EZ themes are different (and better) than NE1 templates. They are responsive (adjust to the size of the screen) and mobile friendly. So, you’ll have to select a new theme when you migrate to WP-EZ. And keeping with modern web design practices, each website will use one theme throughout rather than having the option to use a different theme on each page.
- Guestbook. We are discontinuing guestbooks. They are an outdated website feature.
- Free Prayer. While we would be happy to pray with you anytime no charge, we are no longer offering the prayer request module/plugin with free sites because of the potential for spam and email integration issues. The WP-EZ prayer plugin is available in Gold, Silver and Bronze sites.
- Calendar, PayPal shopping cart, gallery, poll. These features are available in WP-EZ but the data structure is so different that the migration tool cannot copy the NE1 data to WP-EZ. You can recreate them in WP-EZ. (Note that not all features are included in every hosting package. You can see which features are in each package here.)
- Some embedded audio/video. See below.
- Some HTML. (Added 6/2) If you used the “Paste HTML” features in NE1 to embed a block of HTML code into a page, the migration tool does not copy those HTML blocks into WP-EZ. We are close to completing an upgrade to the migration tool that will do this.
When you migrate your website, the migration tool will tell you which parts of your NE1 site you need to manually recreate and send you this info in an email as well.
Q) How does the migration tool handle audio and video? (added 4/29)
All audio and video files will be copied into the WP-EZ media library. They way they are displayed on WP-EZ pages, may differ.
If you uploaded and embedded mp3 audio files or mp4 video files into your NE1, the migration tool will translate the embed code so they play properly in WP-EZ. You should check pages with mp3 and mp4 files on them and may want to tweak the height, width and other settings.
If you uploaded and embedded other types of audio and video files like .wma, .mwv and .mov files, they will not play in WP-EZ. Note that even in NE1, many of your visitors could not listen to/view these file formats because they require a browser plugin. We strongly recommend you convert all audio and video files to mp3/mp4, then edit the WP-EZ page in which you wish to display them, click the “Media” button and upload/embed them.
If you embedded audio/video from an outside source (e.g. YouTube) using HTML embed code, this should work in WP-EZ just as it did in NE1 because the HTML will be copied into WP-EZ exactly as it was in NE1.
Q) When can I migrate my website? (updated 5/18)
Now. As of May 11, 2016, the migration tool is available to all NE1 sites (Gold, Silver, Bronze & Free).
Q) Why do free sites get to migrate first? (removed 5/18, not important since all sites can migrate now)
Q) Do I have to migrate my NE1 website to WP-EZ? (updated 6/2)
Eventually, yes. Migration is voluntary in April and most of May. But, as explained here, there are a number of issues with NE1 which cannot be fixed. Therefore, on May 26 there was a mandatory migration of all Free NE1 websites which had not been migrated by their administrator. After June 30, we will no longer provide support for NE1 sites. You may continue to use NE1 until August 31 without support if you choose. After August 31, however, there will be a mandatory migration of all Gold, Silver and Bronze sites.
We encourage everyone to migrate their website during the voluntary migration phase, because you have the opportunity to migrate when you want and edit your WP-EZ website before it goes live.
Q) Will my WP-EZ website have the same web address as my NE1 website?
For free sites, the web address of the homepage will change from something like http://www.ourchurch.com/member/m/mysite/ to http://freesites.ourchurch.com/m/mysite/ After the WP-EZ website has been activated, a visitor who goes to the URL of one of the pages in your old NE1 site will be redirected to the homepage of the new WP-EZ website. (Note, it may take up to an hour after the “Activate” link is clicked before the NE1 URLs redirect to the WP-EZ URL)
For Gold, Silver and Bronze sites, the web address of the homepage will not change. It will continue to be your domain name. The web addresses of the other pages of your website will change slightly, and when WP-EZ is activated, the URL of each page of the NE1 site will automatically redirect to the corresponding page of the WP-EZ website.
Q) Can you show me how to migrate my site?
Sure, watch this video to see a free NE1 website migrated into WP-EZ.
Q) The WP-EZ Website Builder sounds great but I’m not using NE1! Can I build a new site with it?
Absolutely! If you want to build a brand new website with WP-EZ, click the link and select your hosting package..
Q) What if I have questions about WP-EZ or the migration process?
We have online video tutorials to help you with every aspect of WP-EZ. If you have questions you can call us (727-723-2454), email us (support at ourchurch dot com), or create a help desk ticket.