Run Drupal in localhost then migrate to online once it's finalized Possible Duplicate:
  How to migrate from test environment to production environment?  




I'm sure a lot of template designers work in localhost before going online. My question is what's the best way to take your installation online once you're done playing around with it? Do you redo everything or do you just copy your localhost db then import it online?

I'm using XAMPP in case it matters. :-)
Since this is mostly likely a one time move (because the online version with likely be your master now) I wouldn't worry too much about perfecting the process. Just...


Dump the mySQL DB and place within the root.
Zip/Tar the codebase, including the files directory.
Move it to the server (via SCP or FTP), unzip/untar the whole thing.
Import the DB via: mysql -hHOST -uUSER -pPASS DBNAME &lt; db.mysql
Bam!


For continual workflow I usually use:


Backup &amp; Migrate to create database backups.
Git to move the code around (.gitignore your files directory)