Use of Staging and the Dashboard Note

Staging is a very important concept to understand so that those working on the site do not overwrite and erase another person's work. For a step by step instructions, read this article.

How Staging Works

Summary: The staging site is used as a “copy site” feature. Anytime we need to do something in staging, the site is “restaged” which means that everything that is presently on the staging site is completely overwritten. We do not maintain two different sites (staging and live).

For our purposes, we use staging to do certain updates on our sites. Therefore, when it is time to perform the update, we stage the site (which erases everything in staging). We do the updates on staging and test, and then push those changes live. (see caution about pushing live) If there is any testing that is required on a site, we will also stage the site which completely erases and overwrites the staging site.

Implications:

• The staging site is continuously overwritten. It is not maintained separately. It is imperative that you NOT view staging as a permanent site that you can refer to because it will be overwritten.
• Because of this, it is important to use the Dashboard Note to communicate if a site is “Safe to Stage”. 

The Use of the Dashboard Note and Staging

Summary: When multiple people are working on a site, it can become problematic. We stage and overwrite the staging site frequently. Therefore, the “Dashboard Note, has become a type of “digital post-it note”.

Procedures

Before Staging the site:

1. Go to the Dashboard and check the Dashboard note to see if it is safe to stage.
2. If the site is safe to stage, you will see a green Dashboard note with a “Yes” at the top.

Staging the site:

1. If the note shows that the site is Safe to Stage and you wish to stage, add a new line at the top of the note with “No”, the date, why you are staging and your name and turn the note red. This will allow people to know who is working in staging.

1. If the site Dashboard note is red, DO NOT STAGE. Check with the person listed on the note to see if it is safe to stage.

After Staging the site:

1. After you are done working in staging and when it is safe to stage once again, come back to the note and change your “No” to a “Yes” and turn the note green again. 

A Strong Word of Caution About “Push to Live” from Staging

Summary: It is critical to understand the site and to know if the site is in a state where you can push to live. For example, sites with a lot of activity (including ecommerce) are examples of sites that may not be able to have a simple push to live. In that situation, if a staging site is pushed to live with all tables, it can overwrite any changes that happened on the live site while the site was staged. This includes any purchases that may have occurred while the site was staged. Special care and understanding need to be taken when doing a “push to live”.

Difference Between Staging and a Development Install

Summary: We use both staging and development installs in our workflows. Staging is used for quick projects or quick changes that you want to test outside of the live environment. A development install is a completely separate site and intended for long term use.

Staging - Staging is a feature specifically offered by our web host. The staging is a very easy process that can be done from the wp-admin dashboard. The staging also has a push to live feature making it very easy to stage a site, update or install a plugin, test the site, then push live (use caution when pushing live). Because staging is continually being overwritten, long-term projects are not recommended for staging.

Development Install - For projects that are longer term, we can create a development install that will be password protected to view the site. This install will not be maintained so any plugin or theme updates are the responsibility of the client. These installs are good for long term development projects that you want to work on. When a site is being redesigned, it is done on a “development install”.

If you would like a development install, we can create one for you at the “hosting only” fee of $20 per month. Should you want to develop on a development install, the new site on the dev install can be copied over to your regular site. However, this takes planning and preparation and requires contact with support at the web hosting company. The same caution applies to development installs as to staging when you “push to live”. When copying over a development install onto the live site, caution must be taken so that all content and files that were added to the live site during the development process are not lost.