Anne, should you choose to upgrade you will need someone (one of us?) with at least v14 to do an interim update to your project because v2019 cannot import from v11.

There will be misplaced object and cell styling changes, there may also be some objects that need re-creating (eg flash is no longer supported).

Some of the major changes will revolve around layout at various resolutions (I assume you wish to build a responsive site for tablets and mobile's).

In actual usage of the program many things have changed for the better, but functionality and usability remains just as easy.

I would recreate from scratch, but if you wish to go down the upgrade path we will be happy to assist.

Anne, I browsed your 2 sample sites.

I have some sympathy for you, these websites have had lots of work and a great deal of content. I would now recommend upgrade rather than start afresh.

If you purchase the latest version your existing v11 will continue to run without issue. As I stated, we can get you upgraded via an interim version of WX5 (you just have to create an iwzip through step 5, export project for each of your projects. Then we (I?) will upgrade the project and send it back to you for import into v2019 evo (the project/s look large, so my recommendation would be to use ftp to copy the iwzip to your domain with either wx5 or filezilla, then if you provide a link we can download it, easy to talk you through this).

The vast majority of you site will remain in tact, the work will involve making it look pretty again. Work can proceed on v2019 evo and it need not replace the old site until you are absolutely happy.

I look forward to hearing from you - Happy New Year (soon)

Thank you so much for your prompt and very helpful reply, Esahc. You'll be pleased to know that most of my websites aren't as big as those two samples - in fact, some are very small and simple!

I have downloaded the demo of v2019 to try and it 'feels' comfortingly similar to v11, but I think the best way forward would be for me send you one of my smaller projects so I can make sure I can manage v2019 before we move on to the bigger sites.

But first, can you give me some idea of the cost of your work on this, please?

Many thanks for your time and trouble.

Anne

Anne, I had no intention of charging. I didn't intend to do much work, simply download your iwzip, import to an interim version (probably WX5 v16), export project to create a new iwzip and send it back to you (although being a sticky beak I will probably import to v2019 just to make sure it works)

I am happy to initially do a small project as proof of concept but would hope that for the majority of small projects you will simply create a new version. For larger projects with blog, libraries of attached documents, etc upgrading the projects should save you significant work.

That's very kind of you, Esahc, thank you!

I've now bought the new version and have managed to successfully convert and publish one of my small projects. I'll keep going with the smaller sites while I find my way around the new version, and will get back to you for help when a get to the larger ones. 

Thank you again - and happy new year! 

Anne, you're gonna love it :-)

Please continue to ask any questions here (especially about new features), but if you ever wish to/need to get a quicker response or provide details you do not wish to have publicly displayed on the internet, you can find my contact details at https://www.esahc.com

I'm making good progress with converting my smaller sites, Esahc, but there seems to be a problem with the menu on one of them:

http://petswelcomeholidaycottage.wales/

The menu works fine on a PC and MacBook but on an iPad or iPhone the buttons have to be pressed twice to get to the selected page. I can't see why this should be and hope you might be able to throw some light on it. 

On the whole, I'm finding it relatively simple to make the conversions, but it's disappointing that the 3D menu styles from v11 have been lost as I used that a lot to create buttons. I don't suppose it's lurking in some obscure place that I haven't thought to look?

Anne

Sadly I do not have access to an iPhone or iPad, as you say, the menu works perfectly on an Android or desktop.

However, I suspect it has much to do with the fact your new website is not responsive (and will fail all mobile useability tests provided by google). I suspect the iProducts assume a minimum size of the menu object and require 2 stabs to locate the menu item. Just in case there is a partially overlayed graphic (although I see no evidence of one) you could make sure the menu object is the top object.

Have you considered making the site responsive?

This would almost certainly mean the loss of the vertical menu at mobile resolutions (although not desktop) and you could put a horizontal menu across the top for mobiles. Assuming you make the appropriate space available for the menu you could keep the text buttons (mobile does not automatically mean using the hamburger menu).

As for the menu styles lost from v11, you can still have them but you have to go to the effort of crafting and providing the background images manually. It can take some fiddling. Because you still have v11 you could go and copy the old graphics from that install if you wish (eg C:\Program Files (x86)\WebSite X5 v11 - Evolution\Res\Buttons)

Many features have been lost or in some cases "simplified" since version 11. I still mourn for the loss of imsitemap.html, and I am bitterly disappointed that thumbnails are now almost useless in the default galleries.

Many thanks for the prompt and detailed response.

There's nothing overlaying the menu so I'll just have to hope that folk will have the patience to tap the buttons twice. I did have a brief look at making sites responsive but that's way beyond my competence. I do websites free as a hobby and if my site owners want that sort level of expertise I fear they'll just have to find a professional and pay for it! Delighted to locate the old v11 buttons - I had looked for them but not in the right place. 

Here are the files for the first of my four big sites:

https://www.dropbox.com/transfer/AAAAAK9NiimKF1MSkGFQoznajZMGtUsVUe4nq0bYLpWtfGNBEEoLJb4

I've had a go at this one but got in a mess with the menu again (only the top button would appear on the screen) so I'm hoping that if you would upgrade through the interim stages some of these problems may be resolved. No rush at all. 

Thanks again for all your help. 

Anne

You can retrieve your project in v2019 here

http://esahc.com/GKCv2019-2-7.iwzip

You will notice a few anomolies along the way. For instance, all your text in headers and footers is now  images, you may also have fun trying to change the background colour of some objects (eg menu) until you realise WX5 has a background image in there (just right click and delete). You will find some missing fonts, either use a different font or if possible I strongly recommend using google fonts.

There are other things as well, but when you get stumped just ask (I have the advantage of being able to open my version of your project to provide specific answers I hope).

Have a great day.

(the conversion to responsive does not require much expertise, just a little bit of tweeking. I do not have time at the moment, but I may supply 2 versions of the next project conversion for your amusement :-)

Anne

For your amusement (I will not make any more projects responsive unless you need assistance).

Conversion to Responsive - one mouse click

Fix up header etc for responsive ~ 10 minutes

Make mobile phone view visible - far too long (there is a bug that causes mobile view to be hidden when a project is upgraded from old desktop to new responsive. I have not fixed any pages between 2007 & 2017 (I got a bit sick of it))

I have made no attempt to replace images with text, there is much that could be improved, especially regarding SEO

Please look at this, and if you get bored you could make all your projects responsive (it would take almost no effort for small projects).

http://esahc.com/GKCv2019-2-7R.iwzip

ENJOY!!

I'm delighted to report that I've now managed to convert all ten of my sites to v19.

And in the course of a fair bit of fiddling and jiggling the menus I also discovered that the reason one of the menus wasn't working properly on iPhone/iPad - I had applied one of the special effects on mouseover. I@e now  removed that and it's working on all platforms. 

Thank you so much for your help and support, it made a huge difference to know there was someone to call if I was irretrievably stuck and I really appreciate the time and trouble you took. 

As for the question of repsonsiveness, I might come back to that when I've had a break . . .

Thank you again. 

Anne

Great news Anne!