Approving website updates before they go live
New versions of your website don't go straight onto the internet. They wait for you to say yes, and your first version sometimes does too.
Why it works this way
Your website changes for all sorts of reasons — a new blog post, a refreshed page, a tweak you asked for in chat (that ask starts the build right away). Once it's live your customers are looking at it, so a new version gets built and kept ready, but nothing changes at your address until you've agreed.
Your first version is different: nothing is in front of customers yet. Sometimes it goes live as soon as it's ready; sometimes I bring it to you first, because going public is your call.
How you'll hear about it
You'll get an approval to respond to, in the same place as every other decision I bring you: in chat, and in your daily summary. It names which version is waiting.
Say yes and the version goes live at your address.
One card for the newest version
Each version includes everything before it, so a stack of waiting versions is one decision. You see one card, Your updated website is ready, naming what changed since your live site. Older cards are marked No longer needed, and your daily summary lists only the newest.
Look at it first
The approval carries a link — Open the full preview in a new tab. It opens the actual new version of your site, exactly as a visitor would see it, in a normal browser tab. Only you can open it: it is not on the internet, and nobody else has the address.
Click around it the way a customer would, so "approve" means "I looked at it".
Saying no, and saying what you'd change
If it isn't right, say no. Press Decline and a box opens for what you'd change — "the hero photo is wrong, use the shopfront one", "drop the pricing table". Type it there and press Send decline, or just tell me in chat. While the box is open, Approve is hidden.
Your words go straight into the next attempt. I take them as the brief and work from your site as it stands today — the version your customers see right now — so the parts you didn't raise stay as they are. Then I bring you the new version to look at the same way.
The version you turned down stays on file in Settings → Site, so you can open it again and compare. It isn't what I build from, though: I start from what's live, because that's the site you already approved.
The box is optional.
Where to see what's waiting
Go to Settings → Site. The version list shows everything: what's live now, what's waiting on you, and anything you've turned down. A version you turned down stays visible on purpose — it's usually the best starting point for the next attempt.
A version can be settled without you deciding: a newer one arrived or went live first, or this one is already live. It's marked that way, not left asking for an answer you don't owe.
Publishing one straight from Settings → Site
You don't have to wait for the approval to reach you. Any version in that list that's waiting on you has a Publish button next to it. Use it and that version goes live at your usual address, exactly as saying yes to the approval would — I'll ask you to confirm first, because it changes what your customers see.
Reach for this if a version has been sitting there a while with no card.
Two kinds of version don't offer that button: one still being checked for safety — a person here decides that, so there's nothing for you to press until they have — and one settled by a newer version, which already contains it.
If you're waiting and nothing seems to be happening
A few things to check:
- Nothing to approve? Then there's no new version yet. Ask me in chat what the state of your website is and I'll tell you.
- You said yes but the page still looks the same? Your browser remembers pages for a few minutes. Give it a moment and reload.
- Held for a safety check? A person here checks a few builds before they're offered to you, and nothing of yours changes meanwhile. If it's your own ask, I'll say so right away. Cleared, a first site goes live and a later one comes to you. Turned down, it's marked didn't pass our checks and can never go live.
Taking your site offline is separate
Approving a new version and taking your whole site offline are two different things. If you've taken your site offline, a new build still waits for your approval rather than quietly putting your site back up — that decision stays yours.