New "Hokuryu Town Portal" renewal website launches: Monday, January 20, 2020

Monday, January 20, 2020

Construction of the new Hokuryu Town portal site began on Monday, January 6th. The new site was launched on Monday, January 20th.

Problems encountered

・Google announced the new version of Google Sites in 2016, and announced the unification to the new Google Sites in 2017.
The deadline for migrating from classic Google Sites to new Google Sites is the end of 2021.
・It has been discovered that the Hokuryu Town Portal, which uses the old Google Sites, is having difficulty migrating to the new Google Sites.
- The table of contents is in Google Docs, so it doesn't work well for searching past articles.
・If you do not move to the new site, all articles on the Hokuryu Town Portal will be deleted.
・The previous Hokuryu Town Portal was not fully compatible with smartphones (the screen layout was small and difficult to read).

・So instead of using Google Sites, we decided to set up a separate server and build an independent site.

Purpose of building the new site (current structure)

・The site will have both static HTML and dynamic WordPress.
・The URL will be the same as the previous Google Site.
・Articles from the "Hokuryu Town Portal" will be available for viewing on the new server "X Server"
・Future articles will be posted on WordPress
・Make the site easy to read on smartphones

Technical challenges overcome

I searched for, read, researched, and bookmarked the valuable records of my predecessors, and if I didn't understand something, I researched it again, repeating this process until I understood it.
I read it over and over again until I could simulate in my head what software to use, how to use it, and how to respond.

Do not change the domain/Use the same domain

・Use a domain acquired through Google Apps eNom
・Register a domain (subdomain) on Xserver

Download files from the Hokuryu Town Portal

・Using SiteSucker
- Download all files from the previous Google Site (approximately 7,000 files)

Create an environment where you can directly access and work on Xserver

・PC Hosts rewrite

Upload all files to Xserver

・Using FileZilla

New WordPress launch

・Use Xserver's installation service
・Set .htaccess so that the top page is WordPress
- Set the theme to Luxeritas
・Implement basic settings

Nameserver Rewrite

・Change the IP address to the A record of the eNom host record
・Internet access was restored within about two hours (it usually takes about 72 hours).

Access analysis tool settings

・Google Analytics settings
・Google Search Console settings

Sitemap indexing

・Use PRO-Sitemaps to obtain sitemap.xml (approximately 8,200 URLs)

Site always-on SSL

・X server's own SSL setting function ・Setting to subdomain
・Go to WP → Settings → General and change the WordPress Address (URL) and Site Address (URL) to https.
Download all static files and WP files of the site using Filezilla
- Use the free software BBEdit to convert http://potral to https://portal
Select Multi-File Seardch, project, and option, select All file types
・Upload all files overwrite with Filezilla
・Verify Mac and F12 on major pages ・Confirm with Console
If you have a Mix, use BBEdit to edit all files at once and re-upload them.
・Change the site URL in your Google Analytics profile property settings and view settings to https://
・Add the domain portal.hokuryu.info by adding a property to the Google Console
・In the DNS record settings of the X server, set the type to TXT and enter the information specified in the Google Console.
・Create Sitemap.xml for the entire https:// site with Pro Sitemap
・Upload sitemap.xml to the X server
・Enter the sitemap sitemap.xml in Google Console
・That's it

Future challenges

・It is necessary to study whether rewriting .htaccess makes all files accessible.

Related article: Former Hokuryu Town Portal

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・Management and Editor's Notes

We will continue to do our best to spread the word about the charms of Hokuryu Town, where people share joy. We hope you will continue to read our newsletter.

◇ Noboru Terauchi & Ikuko