Moving domain after Zencart setup

I want to move my site from one webhost to another. My current site is running an older version of zencart and I want to update, add some mods and totally redo my site.

Since my new webhost I am looking at has Fantastico, it seemed more intelligent to sign up with them, install through fantastico, add any mods I want, and then when happy that I did it all right, start adding my products, etc.

Then once I am happy with it, move the domain so there is a seemless flow.

Is this possible, or will the new site become dysfunctional once I shift from my assigned ip address to the domain name?

Hope I made sense here.

Jill

Sounds good, except for the Fantastico part.

It's always better, in my opinion, to install Zencart (and any other program, for that matter) manually. That way, you have some sense of the file structure and have gone through the install process, in case you have to install manually later on.

Also, it's my understanding that Fantastico doesn't do upgrades well, and there's one coming before the end of the year.

Also, see here:

https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=99

you can always ask your host is they have a shared url you can use,

or you can purchase a dedicated IP address on the new server, then you dont have to worry about your domain name at all,
and you can flip it when your ready.....

as for the install part of it,
there are several hosts that will actually take care of the install part for you

Thank you for your replies.

I am quite familiar with installing zencart manually as I have done it a few times as well did cubecart twice as well.

My main thing is I desperately need the Canada Post shipping module on my site before Christmas as with the extreme varied rates here in Canada, with some small items I am going to be adding to the site, I will be eating a lot of shipping on orders from the west coast.

I have a website for my husband that I host with bluehost.

I did a fantastico install of zencart for my hubby last weekend and added the shipping cart module. Took me 4 tries to do it right. Kept thinking what a pain this would be on a manual install.

I was going to do a fresh zencart install on my site on my current host, but with the restrictions on mailboxes as well as sql databases, I figured it would be more intelligent to simply move the site to where I could speed up the process.

I did read the faq on the test server, but of course this wouldn't be a test server, it would be the live site with just the domain to be added instead of that ip address that your host gives you to start with. Not sure if the rules would be the same.

Of course I could simply wait until I have a huge block of time and move the domain, then start the fresh setup with the site down for a couple of days. Might the the smartest thing to do in the long run.

Jill