I am new to Local by Flywheel and I am accustomed to using a localhost tool that maintains the domain suffix such as .com, etc. Local defaults to .local when you creat a site. I have learned that if you work in Local and export the site, the All-In-One WP Migration plugin has the ability to change references to .local to .com (for example) to make for a seamless upload or restore to a live site.
As an experiment I just created a new test site and in Advanced Options I changed the local site domain from the default of test.local to test.com. The new site was created with no error messages, so here is my question.
Are there any issues if I choose to change the default for my sites in Local when creating them to the .com designation?
You’re right that Local will allow you to create any top level domain (TLD - com, local, dev) that you want.
In general, I would still stick with a dedicated “non-public-facing” TLD like .local or .test for a few reasons:
If you do use a .com TLD on a Local site, then Local will basically be updating your computer to point to that Local site for that domain. This is fine if it’s what you want, but for a site that is already live, it means that you won’t have an easy way to “seeing” the real live site – you’ll only be able to reach the site that is on your local machine.
If you try using a .dev TLD, there are often issues with SSL certificates, or in some cases, how DNS servers will try and resolve that domain. It’s not guaranteed to fail, but it can cause surprising issues.
Hope that makes sense and gives you some pointers to keep in mind!
Thank you for the insightful reply to my question. I will take your advice and stick with the .local TLD when using Local. I’m sure I can get used to the steps needed to export a revised site to a live site using the replace function in All-In-One WP Migration. Like most things, change often requires us to be willing to do things a bit differently and I learned long ago to stop trying to push water uphill. Your advice reminded me once again about that important admonition. :>)
