MyBB Community Forums

I have a few of existing sites that are running on 1.6 that I want to "re-create" on 1.8.  You see, I have made a lot of CSS changes, and template changes over the years, and I want to start fresh without interrupting the sites until I have everything the way I like it.

I thought that if I create a subdomain, I could create a new 1.8 forum, and then switch them out once the new one is up and running with the database.

Would this work?  Is there already a How-To on this?  Bad idea?  Pitt falls to watch for?

Things I have considered:
I could create a copy of the current database and use that for the new site, but the longer it takes for me to create the new version of the site, the farther out of synch the two databases would be.  I would have to update parts of the new database just before the launch.

How would I actually swap the subdomain with the primary domain?  For example, the primary would be mississippi-mud.com while the new version would be at new.mississippi-mud.com or something of that nature.  Could I just rename the folders so that the new version has the primary's name?  Move the folders into each others' locations?

Sorry.  I'm already getting myself confused.....  

1) Install Xampp (assuming windows pc) and make a folder called mybb in htdocs
2) Create a backup of the database and upload via the phpmyadmin on your xampp server.
3) Copy all files from your forum to the htdocs /mybb
4) Access the server on your local host
5) Disable all plugins.
6) Upgrade the xampp version to 1.8.6 - look to see what is broken.

How to look for broken: All templates that are changed are in the updated templates. Basically, if it has javascript in it then you need to carefully review the template. CSS several changes; -one I can remember is in order for the softdeleted posts to show up correctly you will have to add css for them.

Once you have the local host running as you like it you can export the theme and templates from xampp and run the upgrade process on your actual site, then import the updated theme and upload any new plugins you are using.

TL-DR: Make a copy of the forum on a localhost and make sure all that works.

Thanks. I'll look into xampp.

What's the advantage of using xampp over creating another folder on my hosting server?

I like xampp as it is free for bandwidth, any testing you do is offline so the world cant see it.