I created a webflow CMS site about three years ago. It is still active, and contributors/editors do weekly updates. Now I’m asked to do a redesign of that site. I don’t want to fiddle around in the existing site because it might get broken or so.
So what is the best approach to do the redesign (with the existing CMS items being updated and expanded on a weekly basis) and get it to the live site when I’m finished with the redesign/styling. When I clone the site, it is not up-to-date when I am finished my redesign work (it might take some time), so what should I do.
Hello @Woohoo, I would recommend you to build/redesign your site within the same project. Mainly because you don’t want to migrate your entire, and still expanding, cms collection, because you will have to create redirects and it is just too time consuming. Just build on top of your existing site, make sure you recycle/repurpose and update your classes/combo-classes/global-classes. I hope this helps.
From experience, Pablo’s on the money here. It’s quite a process either way, but this minimizes interruption and any integration rework, lead pipelines, etc.
Here are some notes you may find useful.
If you’re not using a template, you may want to at least create a new project and work out the style guide aspects and class naming convention, then copy-paste from there.
I prefer a different approach to rebuilds and redesigns by starting with a fresh project (e.g. Lumos/Client First/Relume cloneable). Then I setup the CMS structure as close a possible to the original CMS and automate a sync of any CMS updates and assets between the sites while a build the new site. In the end, it requires much less effort in cleaning up the CSS and page structures.
Duplicate the site in Webflow, strip all static pages, then connect it back to the same CMS via the “reference existing collection” option. You can redesign freely there, and when ready, swap it live with minimal downtime.
In that case I’d redesign from scratch. Lumos uses a much more utility-class focused approach which is really nice but in some ways it’s fundamentally different from how traditional templates are built.
Test it out. Start a blank project with Lumos, and start rebuilding your homepage section by section, you’ll see how the approach varies.
What I would do is open a new hidden homepage (or any other page) and design it from scratch with new classes. When I’m finished, I will ask them if they want to delete the old pages and classes. If they are clueless about classes, I will probably not delete them.
Safer approach that avoids breaking live content:
• Same project: build new layouts with new classes/combo classes so the old pages stay intact.
• Create a Style-Guide page and a “v2” folder; duplicate target pages into v2 first.
• When ready, swap the homepage and redirect old routes.
If you’d like, I can outline a step-by-step migration checklist (classes, symbols, redirects) so the CMS stays synchronized.