What is the difference between staging and live?

When you manage a website, there are times you want to try something new without your visitors seeing it. That is exactly what the staging and live system is for. Web60 gives you two separate versions of your website so you can test freely and only publish when you are ready.

Your live site

Your live site is the version of your website that the whole world can see. When someone types your web address into their browser, they land on your live site. Every page, every image, and every blog post on the live site is visible to your visitors, search engines, and social media.

Any change you make on the live site takes effect immediately.

Your staging site

Your staging site is a private copy of your live website. It looks and works exactly the same, but it is hidden from the public behind a password. Only you and anyone you share the credentials with can access it.

You can think of staging as a practice area. You can make changes, test new ideas, and even break things without worrying about what your visitors will see.

What staging is good for

• Testing new plugins before installing them on your live site
• Trying out design changes, such as a new colour scheme or page layout
• Making major edits to your content, like reorganising your pages
• Checking that updates to your theme or plugins will not cause problems

What staging is not for

Staging is a testing environment, not a second website. Keep these points in mind:

• Do not use staging for long term content storage. When you sync your live site to staging, everything on staging is replaced with a fresh copy of live. Any content that only existed on staging will be lost.
• Do not treat staging as a backup. Use the Backups feature in your Web60 dashboard for that.

How staging and live work together

Your Web60 dashboard gives you simple controls to manage both versions:

1. Create a staging site. Click the Create Staging Site button in the Staging tab. Web60 copies your entire live site, including all files and the database, into a new private environment.

2. Make your changes on staging. Open the staging site in your browser or log in to the staging WordPress editor to install plugins, change themes, or edit content.

3. Sync live to staging. If your live site has changed since you created the staging copy, click Sync Live to Staging to bring staging up to date. This replaces everything on staging with the latest version of live.

4. Push to live. When you are happy with your changes, click Push to Live. You will be asked to type a confirmation phrase to prevent accidental pushes. Web60 automatically takes a backup of your live site before making the switch.

5. Delete staging. Once you are finished testing, you can delete the staging site to keep things tidy. You can always create a new one later.

Staging is password protected

Your staging site has its own username and password, shown in the Staging tab of your Web60 dashboard. When you visit the staging address in your browser, you will be asked to enter these credentials. This ensures that search engines and the public cannot see your work in progress.

Need help?

If you are unsure whether to make a change on staging or live, visit our support page and we will help you decide the best approach.