Working with themes on live site
Working with themes on live site
We have been considering making updates to our page layout (extensive). Before messing with a live site, I thought I would ask those who may have done it what you suggest. Can we simply create a new page (such as Default-test.aspx) and work on an entirely new theme without affecting any current live pages? I assume that this will work, and would offer a very simple way to tinker without messing up what is currently live.
Rick Morris
Brewhaus (America) Inc.
Hot Sauce Depot
Brewhaus (America) Inc.
Hot Sauce Depot
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William_firefold
- Commander (CMDR)
- Posts: 186
- Joined: Fri Aug 01, 2008 8:38 am
Re: Working with themes on live site
We recently changed our layout and we are n00bs so I may be able to help.
At FireFold we use a seperate development install of our store where we can make changes without affecting the live site.
We made changes to the header and main content in the scriptlets and images. When you are working on the CSS, having the dev site is really helpful to make sure you dont affect other areas with css changes.
When we got to switching the layout, we made a backup of all directories in which we will be making changes.
From there we went section by section to make the changes instead of all at once. This ensured some level of functionality while we were switching. It is possible to make changes without any bugs, but if you had bugs like we did, it is also helpful to go in stages to make it easier to figure out where problems are, or quickly undo the change.
We changed the header over first. We moved any header images to the live site, and then copied the header scriptlet.
Then we did the main content scriptlet, making sure the page layout was ok and images were in place.
We also changed stuff in the sidebar, so that went next.
You could always do it on a default-test page as you said, and then use Able to switch the layout using the built in CMS. We are not organized enough for that, and there were too many variables in play, so we did it in a way that had the fewest structural changes on the site.
At FireFold we use a seperate development install of our store where we can make changes without affecting the live site.
We made changes to the header and main content in the scriptlets and images. When you are working on the CSS, having the dev site is really helpful to make sure you dont affect other areas with css changes.
When we got to switching the layout, we made a backup of all directories in which we will be making changes.
From there we went section by section to make the changes instead of all at once. This ensured some level of functionality while we were switching. It is possible to make changes without any bugs, but if you had bugs like we did, it is also helpful to go in stages to make it easier to figure out where problems are, or quickly undo the change.
We changed the header over first. We moved any header images to the live site, and then copied the header scriptlet.
Then we did the main content scriptlet, making sure the page layout was ok and images were in place.
We also changed stuff in the sidebar, so that went next.
You could always do it on a default-test page as you said, and then use Able to switch the layout using the built in CMS. We are not organized enough for that, and there were too many variables in play, so we did it in a way that had the fewest structural changes on the site.