Preview, Publish, and Update Your Website
Understand the difference between editing, saving a draft, previewing, publishing, and checking the public website.
What you’ll accomplish
You will publish deliberately and verify that the public site matches the draft you approved.
Before you begin
- Finish the content, responsive review, and Contact delivery address for every page you intend to publish.
- If using a purchased domain, have access to its DNS provider even when the registrar is a different company.
Save the draft
Select Save after editing. Wait for the unsaved-change warning to clear before leaving My Website.
A saved draft is not automatically public.
Open Preview
Select Preview in the Live Canvas header. Review the Home page and follow the real navigation to every page affected by the change.
Return to the builder to correct anything that looks wrong.
Confirm the public address
Use Address to review the PhotoView website address or connect one purchased custom domain. Enter the preferred domain, such as example.com or www.example.com. PhotoView also connects the matching root or www address and redirects it to your preferred address.
PhotoView detects many DNS providers. If Set up automatically appears, select it, review and approve the proposed records on the provider's website, then return to PhotoView. PhotoView never asks for the provider password or changes DNS without that approval.
If automatic setup does not appear, open the detected provider and add the displayed A, CNAME, or TXT records exactly as shown. Use the Copy buttons, remove only conflicting records for the same host, and leave unrelated email, MX, SPF, DKIM, and verification records intact.
Return to Address and select Check connection until Ownership verified and DNS points to PhotoView both pass. A pending result can simply mean DNS is still propagating. The PhotoView.io address remains available throughout setup.
Publish the approved version
Select Publish website only after Preview is correct. Confirm the action when prompted.
Publishing updates the public website with the saved version; it does not publish unsaved changes.
Verify as a visitor
Open the public address in a fresh browser tab. Check the changed page on desktop and phone, open at least one portfolio, and test Contact when it was affected.
For future updates, repeat Save, Preview, Publish, and public verification in that order.
Finish with this checklist
- The saved draft and Preview match the version you intend to publish.
- The PhotoView.io address opens successfully.
- For a purchased domain, ownership and DNS checks both pass.
- The preferred root or www address opens and the alternate address permanently redirects to it.
- The public website, portfolio links, navigation, and Contact workflow work as a visitor would experience them.