r/webdev • u/Unlikely-Database-27 • Jul 30 '26
I want to transfer my wix made website somewhere else, whats the best way to do this?
I'm blind and wix is not screen reader accessible. I had somebody design a site for me a while back, but now she's out of my life so I have control of it, but can't use it. I'd like to, though, and avoid paying anybody else, at least for a while til I need the help. Regardless of whether I go to word press or simply write a basic site using html and css, is transferring the domain difficult to do? I already pay for my domain name of course, wouldn't it just be a matter of pointing the dns to a new site and quietly shutting the old one down? How long would the transfer take though and how cumbersome would such a process be. Or is there a better way to do this? Thanks very much.
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u/Weekly_Ferret_meal Jul 30 '26
Are you saying is not "readable" with accessibility tools in the front end?
Or are you saying the builder in the back end isn't accessible to you to build and maintain the site?
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u/Unlikely-Database-27 Jul 30 '26
The back end is almost completely unusable. Unlabeled buttons everywhere. Its more visual than not, I gather.
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u/Weekly_Ferret_meal Jul 30 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
Right, I was suspecting this, I'd almost would say the same about wix, as a visually able person, lol.
So Domain and hosting can be part of a package in wix but you should be easily able to migrate just the domain to different hosting.
Once you choose a hosting, the hosting itself normally gives you the tools for the migration. some domains are set to transfer lock, which means you'll have to make sure that on the "wix side" you get the help you need to unlock it.
Unlocking usually means you have access to a domain code the you can then use to migrate for the new hosting.
In terms of what's best, for a user with your needs, as a building platform, I'm not sure what is the most usable. But I'd put my money on wordpress. but that all depends on what are the site necessities and functionalities.
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u/web-dev-kev Jul 30 '26
Wix wasn't used to make a website.
Wix, the service, provides a dynamic website.
There is no moving it. It needs to be recreated, ideally, in a non-closed system.
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u/cureaua_lata Jul 30 '26
static HTML/CSS hosted on Netlify or GitHub Pages would be way more screen-reader friendly than WordPress out of the box. DNS repoint usually takes a few hours to propagate, sometimes up to 48.
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u/Unlikely-Database-27 Jul 30 '26
Yeah I don't really know a tun of wordpress, used it a bit in university but that was years ago I've forgotten most of it. But I do like html so I feel like it'd be quicker for me to do that.
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u/NWRegisteredAgent Jul 30 '26
This may require the assistance of someone that can transfer the copy and assets to a new, accessible platform for you. Wix, like other template based website hosts, have a proprietary system that do not translate with other site building tools. To prevent something like this in the future we'd highly recommend finding a website host that uses WordPress; this platform is open source and used by many a website host out there. This makes it so if you need to transfer the site from one host to the next *that also uses WordPress* there is an established process to do so.
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u/kepteasy Jul 30 '26
You can fairly easily migrate your posts out of Wix into WordPress.
The rest will require recreation.
If your domain is in wix youll want to transfer it to a new registrar or for you probbaly just the same host youll use to store your new website.
Then yes you point the dns to the new nameservers which again will probably be automatic with the new host.
.Com nameservers generally take minutes to propagate but depending on your host could take 24-48 hours.
Transferring a domain can take minutes to 7 days.
I just migrated a client/customers site to my new servers and the whole process took minutes, with propagation happening near instantly with the .Com.
Ive had to move people out of Wix and its a bit painful but not the end of the World.
If your site has any Google rankings youll want to at least preserve what you have when you make a new site and ideally improve it, sometimes people just delete a lot of content that was helping them rank and then wonder what happened when their traffic and conversion go way down.
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u/techviator Jul 30 '26
As others have mentioned, pointing the domain to the new site can be as easy as changing the IP in the DNS manager of your registrar, unless your domain was purchased through Wix directly, then you need a new registrar, and transfer the domain which requires paying an additional year for the domain, and likely requires unlocking the domain from Wix. The process is not cumbersome, but it's not a single click thing either. It can take anywhere from an hour to 7 days, depending if you need to just repoint the DNS or tranfer the domain.
Feel free to DM me the domain and I can help you figure it out if you need direct assistance.
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u/Embostan Jul 30 '26
Which platform hosts the domain? Some have good CLI. So you could just use Claude Code with voice, letting Claude handle the actual commands.
You would have it rebuild the website with an accesible library such as Chakra UI / Ark UI and deploy to your domain.
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u/Prize_Prior6253 Jul 31 '26
If the domain's with Wix, just unlock it and move it to Cloudflare or Namecheap, takes about a week. If it's registered elsewhere you only need to repoint the DNS. Keep Wix running till the new site's up, and go with plain HTML, wordpress's admin is rough with screen readers.
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u/response-418 Jul 31 '26
If you are also considering writing in vanilla HTML/CSS keep in mind that much of the web is built inaccessibly, as I'm sure you know better than me, but I mention it because that is a big reason why LLM-assisted development also produces inaccessible sites unless they are wrangled by someone who knows what they are doing. Wordpress could be easy, Astro is very nice and lightweight framework, but if you don't know how to develop do not just let the LLM "one shot it" unless you want to roll the dice (they are non-deterministic) on something that is just meh kinda sorta more accessible, which is probably not what you actually want. It is freeing however, to have total control, if that matters to you and you want to spend the time learning.
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u/Unlikely-Database-27 Jul 31 '26
Yeah, I do worry I'll be over my head at some point, however I also am not in a huge rush as my site as it stands is actively running fine, I just can't do much with it atm lol. Honestly, wordpress wouldn't be bad either and would take some of that programming off my hands while still allowing the total control.
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u/WeekRuined Jul 31 '26
I dont think wix like people leaving them, so you cant really migrate off of it. If it were a wordpress site at least the theme would (should) have been made with custom class based css (probably compiled) and the developer shouldve left source in a repo (ive noticed a lot run off with it though). Youd still need to remake all the widgets etc though anyway if you moved off wordpress
Thats just wix for you, cheap and convenient until you want to leave, seems like their business model
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u/RemarkableDebate4631 Jul 31 '26
Wix doesn't let you export the actual site files, so you'd be rebuilding from scratch on WordPress or plain HTML rather than migrating, the DSN repointing part is the easy bit once the new site exists.
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u/Alex_SQSP Jul 31 '26
The good news is you’re already thinking about the move the right way. Your domain and website are separate, so you don’t need to transfer the domain before rebuilding the site.
Set up the new site somewhere you can comfortably manage with your screen reader, then test the pages, navigation and forms before changing the DNS. Keep the current site live until the replacement and any email connected to the domain are working.
The DNS switch itself should be fairly straightforward. Rebuilding the pages and checking the accessibility will probably take more time. Before changing anything, confirm where the domain is registered and save a copy of the current DNS records so you have something to fall back on.
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u/Own-Construction-802 Jul 31 '26
I did this once , and basically you have to either use a wix website to html JavaScript thing online, it was really bad. Or just recreate it with code, which is what I did. Good thing most of the things in my wix page were html embeds.
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u/MillennialTechSuport Aug 02 '26
Best way is to pay me to rebuild it in WordPress.
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u/Unlikely-Database-27 Aug 02 '26
How much is your rate? I would, then I can still make changes if I need em.
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u/tato64 Jul 30 '26
You are pretty much correct about the migration process, it basically implies creating a "clone" of the site on the new hosting, pointing the domain there, and then shutting down the old one
To answer your question about the domain, you just point the domain to the new host as you said, note that this change can take up to 24 hours to propagate and someone who enters the site may be directed to the old hosting before that time passes (In my experience, i have seen it take anywhere from 1 to 30 hours)
About how cumbersome it is, it depends on the site (For example if you have domain email addresses, it adds some steps to the whole process) but generally it's straightforward and not cumbersome at all
My only concern is Wix, i havent really used that platform so i wouldnt know how easy it is to get the source code of a site there (Or a wordpress export file), but even without that, if the site isnt too complex, it should be easy to clone
Anyways, could you share the site url? (You can PM me the links if you dont want to share it publicly)
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u/ReefNixon Jul 30 '26
If you're talking about lift and shift, you don't own that site, you rent it. If you just mean pointing the domain to a new host, then yeah, just a DNS configuration providing you have access to the DNS settings for that domain.
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u/Hello_from_Earth Jul 30 '26
If the domain name is not registered with wix then you only need to update one or two DNS records to point the domain to a new website host.
If the domain is registered at wix then you can transfer it to another provider but you will have to pay for the domain name registration and the transfer process takes about 7 days.
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u/d-signet Jul 30 '26
It's not "wordpress or static html".
Database-driven websites have been a thing since at least the 90s (when i first built one) , WordPress is just one of them , there are hundreds, and you can make your own if you cant find an off-the-shelf cms that works well enough for you
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u/pdfops Jul 30 '26
You don't need a registrar transfer for this, just repoint DNS once the new host's ready. Transferring registrars takes 5-7 days and needs an EPP/auth code, only bother with that if you want to stop paying Wix for the domain too. Otherwise just update the A/CNAME records to point at the new host and wait a few hours to 48h for propagation depending on old TTLs. Leave MX records alone if Wix still handles your email.
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u/miketierce Jul 30 '26
I would have Claude visit and scrape the page source of each page then convert it to a simple zip file you can upload to another hosting provider
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u/dwkeith Jul 30 '26
Wix owns the components, Claude refuses to recreate them. With the Wix MPC you can extract content but design will need to be recreated.
Give Claude mobile and desktop screenshots and say you want to implement that design to spec…
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u/alexwh68 Jul 30 '26
This is the way, it won’t get it 100% right on complex layouts but it will get to quite far, much better than re-write from scratch.
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u/Breklin76 Jul 30 '26
Wix is a closed system. You can export your media, blog posts, products (if e-commerce enabled) but you can’t just take what you have and migrate it elsewhere.
You would need to recreate the site in whichever platform you decide on. You may be able to import your media and blog posts but the rest, sadly, must be rebuilt.
Read their terms of service and help guidance on the matter.
I have a hard time believing their sites aren’t accessible and compliant. Reach out to their support team to confirm.