How a Kirksville Small Business Can Archive Its Website Before a Redesign

A screenshot folder is not a complete website archive.

Neither is a WordPress export.

A serious pre-redesign capture uses several layers because no single tool preserves the entire public site, server state, database and external integrations.

Record the archive date and system

Start with a README containing:

• domain;
• capture date and time;
• platform;
• host;
• DNS provider;
• responsible person;
• redesign project;
• known limitations.

A website archive is a snapshot.

Future readers need to know when it represented the live site.

Create a web capture

WARC is a standard format used for web archiving and is listed by the Library of Congress as a preferred format for web archives.

WACZ is another useful package format.

A WARC/WACZ-capable crawl can preserve:

• HTML;
• CSS;
• JavaScript resources;
• images;
• PDFs;
• links.

That creates a replayable public-web layer.

It does not preserve everything.

Expect dynamic gaps

Web crawlers may fail to capture:

• forms;
• search interfaces;
• database-driven results;
• streaming media;
• social embeds;
• authenticated pages;
• external APIs.

That is why a crawl is only one layer of the archive.

Test the replay rather than assuming the crawler succeeded.

Create a static or rendered copy too

A browsable static copy can be useful for ordinary access.

It may be easier for a future developer to inspect quickly.

Again, it may miss JavaScript-generated state or server-side behavior.

The value comes from redundancy between capture methods.

Take screenshots

Capture representative visual states:

• homepage;
• navigation;
• major service pages;
• contact page;
• mobile layout;
• unusual design components;
• forms.

Screenshots preserve appearance.

They do not preserve underlying text relationships, links or functionality.

Export the CMS

If the site uses a CMS, export the content and metadata available through that platform.

That may include:

• pages;
• posts;
• menus;
• custom post types;
• SEO metadata;
• taxonomy.

A CMS XML export is not automatically a full server backup.

Capture the server state when authorized

With host access, preserve:

• database dump;
• uploads/media;
• theme/templates;
• custom code;
• configuration examples;
• redirects;
• rewrite rules.

Keep secrets out of broadly accessible archive copies.

Passwords, API keys and private customer data require separate secure handling.

Preserve DNS information

Record:

• registrar;
• DNS host;
• nameservers;
• A/AAAA;
• CNAME;
• MX;
• SPF;
• DKIM;
• DMARC;
• verification records.

Do not change DNS merely because you are archiving.

The goal is documentation.

Record external dependencies

List services the website relies on:

• forms;
• email sender;
• booking;
• payments;
• CDN;
• analytics;
• maps;
• video;
• APIs.

A static archive may show the integration without preserving the external service.

Document that distinction.

Preserve search-state evidence

Save:

• sitemap;
• robots.txt;
• canonical patterns;
• redirect rules;
• important landing URLs;
• Search Console exports where useful.

This is migration evidence.

It is not the same thing as deciding which pages survive the redesign.

Verify the archive

Open the captured copy in a clean environment.

Check:

• navigation;
• images;
• CSS;
• PDFs;
• representative JavaScript;
• mobile screenshots;
• database dump presence;
• media archive;
• README.

Record what does not work.

A verified incomplete archive is more useful than an allegedly perfect archive nobody tested.

Store the archive independently

Keep at least one copy outside the production hosting account.

A backup stored beside the system being replaced shares too much risk with it.

For editorial preservation before redesign, see How to Preserve Old Website Content Before a Kirksville Business Redesign.

If access is already disappearing, use the emergency workflow in How to Save a Kirksville Website Before Its Domain or Hosting Disappears.