where to test drive new template on large website Topic is solved

[taurus1234]

I have a large website that is very old looking, although is always kept up to date and is running Joomla 3.10.6 right now. (But the template looks more like its original Joomla 1.5 site, if you remember way back then.)

I want to experiment with new templates for a fresh, modern look on the site, which is currently hosted with Siteground. I basically understand the process of changing to a new template in the backend. What I don't understand is...where can I do this on a shadow site so that I am not blowing up my active site while I am experimenting?

Do I just copy my files from the admin directory into a new subfolder and just play around there? I think the site is too large for me to be able to put a copy on my own laptop.

I am obviously not a developer and I am surprised I have been able to get this far all these years, frankly.

Thank you to anyone who can point me in the right direction.

Linda

[webiedesign]

Here is what I would do in a case like this. Create a hidden menu if you don't have one. Create a menu item there that links to a testing article. You can then assign your new template to that specific menu item where you can work on it. As you get closer, you can also temporarily assign it to live pages to review your new template and change them back to your current template as needed for testing.

[Per Yngve Berg]

You can simply add "template=<template name>" to URL to see with another template.

[AMurray]

No, it is not as easy as copying the files. Your site exists in the database; the files are just the Joomla system files. Essentially you need to make a copy of the site per the following instructions:
https://docs.joomla.org/Copying_a_Joomla_website

Use the Common Method as outlined there.

You need to restore the site to the location of your choice e.g. a separate sub-domain (like "testing.yoursite.com") with Akeeba Kickstart which extracts the backup made with Akeeba Backup and runs its own 'installer' to restore the site to working order. Use a separate database to your live site (SiteGround gives you plenty of databases) or restore the backup to your local computer with a webserver software like WAMPServer (that's the easiest to use), you can then test on an independent copy of the site, without interfering with the live site.

How large is this large site (in terms of MB?). Site ground basic hosting (shared) gives you 30 GB space. Surely the site is not that big. And a lap top would have ample disk space.

[taurus1234]

Thank you webiedesign, Per Yngve Berg and AMurray for your input. I believe that what AMurray is suggesting is what I had in mind, but didn't know how to carry out.

The website is 5 GB so while I do have space on Siteground to do this, I think it might be less confusing for me if I restored a backup to my desktop computer using something like WAMPServer. I believe that is how I initially built the website years and years ago before uploading it to a hosting platform.

The site is for my husband's hobby and I am, frankly, afraid that if I tried doing this template switch in another folder at Siteground that I might risk getting confused and screwing something up that I can't fix on my own. (I'm 70 years old and like I said previously, not a developer.) At least on my desktop I can toss the files and start over again if I really can't figure something out.

Thank you very much for your suggestions.
Linda