While visitors may only see the finished product, plenty of work goes on behind the scenes of a typical website.
While visitors may only see the finished product, plenty of work goes on behind the scenes of a typical website.
In fact, some developers use up to three or four different versions of the same site, in order to test their code before it goes live.
Let’s take a look at the most common types of testing environments that are used during development:
Development website. This environment contains all the latest iterations of the code you’re working on. It’s perfect for initial testing of new features. Quality Assessment (QA). During the QA process, changes to your website will be tested thoroughly to find any issues that you may have missed while coding.
This type of environment is most often used by large companies,
since they can’t afford to have bugs pop up on live sites.
Staging website. A staging website acts as the bridge between the development and live versions of your site.
At this point, any remaining errors should be addressed, and the changes should be ready to roll out.
Production website. This is the live version of your website that users will see.
If you’ve been careful throughout the development process, this iteration of your site should be bug-free and provide a flawless user experience.
It’s worth noting that staging sites aren’t meant to be accessed by the public or by search engines like Google.
If you use your staging site correctly, your live site’s visitors should never have to deal with any issues, such as your site breaking due to changes in its code.
By now, you know how a staging website fits into the web development process. However, you may still be wondering if using one is suitable for your needs. Let’s walk through the pros and cons to help you make an informed decision.
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