Need suggestions for easiest way to transfer to a new web host

[MichiKen]

I'm the webmaster for a non-profit organization. The current website was developed using Joomla. We want to a move to a new web host and use a new Content Management System platform (like WordPress).

But, even when we move to the new host, we want to keep the same domain name (let's just call it http://ourwebsite.com). So, how can this be accomplished without having to put up an "Under Construction" sign?

In other words, is there a way we can keep our current website up with the current host, sign up with a new host and start building the new website under a temporary name or sub-domain name, then when the new website is ready to go, transfer the domain name, http://ourwebsite.com over to the new website?

[tracknut]

Pretty much exactly like you say. Get a new web host, put up all the files on the new host while the old one remains live, do all your testing on the new host (you don't need a new domain, you can just test against the ip address of the new host), and then when it's all working, point the domain name to the new host.

Unless there's some database synchronization issue where you must absolutely make sure nobody can access the old one while someone else is on the new one, in which case I suppose it could be a bit trickier.

Dave