Staging Sites vs. Local Development Environments

A Staging site is typically a clone of a production site, where you can safely test any updates or try out new features before pushing them over to the live site. It’s usually on the same server as your live site. Staging is a service offered by many hosting companies, including SiteGround hosting. With many hosts, particularly the larger ones, it’s easy to clone your site and set it up as a staging site. Also check out the How To Set Up An Avada Staging Site help file.

Cloning your production site to a staging site lets you test WordPress, theme, and plugin updates before deploying them to your live site. It also allows you to add new plugins and try out new Avada features or content without any concern about how they might affect the live site. When you are happy with the staging site, you can simply deploy that to the live site, and you’re good to go.

So staging sites have a very specific purpose and are usually on the same server as the live site, making deployment easier. You can use a local staging site, but deployment isn’t as easy, and if the local server configuration differs from the live one, there’s no guarantee it will work correctly when pushed to the live site.

So what’s different about a Local Development Environment? Well, just about everything. In our context, this is simply a local Avada install that can be registered, so you can add plugins, import prebuilt Avada websites, run the Avada Setup Wizard, and generally play with and explore Avada. This is set up on your computer, and is a development sandpit, so to speak, where you can play and explore without the content ever being intended to go live.

With a single Avada license, you can not only run your live site but also have an associated staging site for your convenience. How you use the Staging Site is, of course, up to you. For example, if you see a particular design feature on one of the Avada Prebuilt Websites, you can import that site and see how it’s built. With cross-domain copying, you can even just copy and paste the feature to your live site.

Another huge benefit is being able to use the Avada Setup Wizard. You can create a new site and explore how the Setup Wizard creates multiple Layouts and Layout sections, creates and populates WooCommerce shop pages, and use the Avada Post Cards Element to display the dummy content for the selected features. This alone is a solid reason to have a local development area.

In many ways, it’s good to have all three. A live site, a staging site, and a local development area. In that way, you can have your live site, a gold standard method for updating, and a local environment to explore and learn.