If you oversee or own a WordPress website or product, you’ll likely frequently implement minor to significant updates. And for this, there is no better aid than a WordPress Sandbox.
WordPress sandboxes offer a secure space to initially test your alterations, ensuring a safe trial before implementation. If you are a WordPress developer, a sandbox can make it easy to test and correct any changes you wish to make to your plugin or theme before making it available to the public so it doesn’t negatively impact a live website.
In this blog post, we will explain how you can benefit from integrating the WordPress Sandboxing tool into your project delivery process. Let’s begin with the basics.
What is a WordPress Sandbox?
WordPress Sandbox gives developers a safe environment to create staging websites or product demos to test their products. It provides a cloud-based environment for testing new plugins, themes, and code before applying them to a live website. This precautionary step prevents potential errors from impacting an active site with traffic.
When can you use a WordPress Sandbox?
- You can use the sandbox to create a staging or clone website to test a change before applying it to the live site.
- Since sandboxes are usually online solutions, you can use them to collaborate with team members to work simultaneously on projects both onsite or remotely
- You can use a sandbox environment to test, preview, troubleshoot, and debug changes made to your product to eliminate any possibility of malfunction, bugs or compatibility issues before rolling them out to the public. This way, you can ensure that your product will not crash any live website that updates your latest version.
- Finally, you can allow your potential customers to create product demo websites for free to test your product to learn and understand how it works before deciding to use the product.
How to Configure a Free WordPress Sandbox using InstaWP
As a WordPress developer, you should consider using InstaWP free WordPress sandbox environments to create staging websites. Upgrade when you wish to build more sites and set up product demos using this tool.
Use Case 1: Creating a WordPress Sandbox Website for Staging
Step 1: Create an Account on InstaWP
You can create a free WordPress sandbox using InstaWP. Click here to do so.
After successfully creating your InstaWP account and completing the email verification, you can log in to launch your free WordPress Sandbox environment.
Note: Any free WordPress sandbox site created for staging or product demo will stay live for 7 days, after which it will be automatically deleted. It would be best to take advantage of InstaWP paid plans, which lets you increase this limit to 30 days with an option to restore expired sites and reserve them permanently.
Step 2: Create Your Free InstaWP WordPress Sandbox Site
Click the “Add New +” button to create your first sandbox staging website.
A popup window with various themes or plugins to be added to your staging site. Here, you can select themes and plugins to be installed on the sandbox site.
You can also choose to use any free existing templates or stores if you don’t want to build from scratch.
You can explore other options and configurations if you have specific testing requirements.
When you finish, enter the site name and click the “Create Site” button.
Congratulations, your instant WordPress staging site has been created. You will be provided with a username and password for your sandbox WordPress site.
You can also click the “Magic Login” button to be taken straight to your WordPress admin dashboard.
Step 3: Customize The WordPress Sandbox Site
You can use your free WordPress Sandbox site to upload, configure, and test your product, make modifications, modify codes, cross-test with other plugins or themes for compatibility issues, etc.
InstaWP provides free access to powerful tools like code editor and database editor to edit your database’s PHP, HTML, JS, etc., and tables.
You also get access to various logs of your WordPress sandbox website.
Use Case 2: Creating a WP Sandbox for Product Demos
Step 1: Create an InstaWP Sandbox Site
Like creating a staging sandbox website, you need to have a free InstaWP account and log into it.
Next, go to the Sites page and click the “Add New +” button to create your sandbox demo website.
In the popup/modal enter the site label and click the “Create Site” button, and your site will be automatically created.
You can then click the “Magic Login” button to be taken straight to your WordPress admin dashboard or the provided URL and login details.
Step 2: Setting up the Product Demo
You can then upload, install, and activate your plugin or theme (and its dependencies) and make your customizations on the new sandbox website.
You can set up a landing page, add demo content, and provide usage instructions to your new sandbox WordPress site for demo users.
Step 3: Save the Demo Site as a Shared Template
Now that you are done with customizing your demo site, the next thing you want to do is to allow your potential customers to create identical WordPress sites with your demo site.
InstaWP allows developers to achieve this by creating and saving a sandbox site as a shared template.
When you create a shared template, you get a shareable link with which potential customers can create a replica of your demo site to configure and test your plugin or theme for free.
To save your site as a shared template, click the Save as Template icon adjacent to your site.
From the popup, give your template a unique name (typically adding your product name) and description, while making sure to mark your template as Shared before proceeding.
You can also mark the template as an Instant Template to improve its load speed.
When you are done, save the template.
To copy the link to this template, go to the Templates page > Shared tab and click on “Shared” (written next to your template’s name).
Now you can share the link on your landing pages, in emails, and across all channels to reach potential customers.
Step 4: Customize Template
You can always customize the look and feel of your template landing page when necessary. Simply go to Templates > Shared, scroll down to your template, and click on the pencil / Edit button.
You will find various customization options to help you control and customize your product demos more efficiently such as branding, setup details modification, gallery images, product testers emails collection, etc.
How Does WordPress Sandbox Environment Relieve Developers from Big Burdens?
As a WordPress developer, you are responsible to your team members and customers. And without the right tools, you will be saddled with the following burdens.
The Burden of Working Smoothly with Team Members
Collaborating with others on your project is limited if you use a locally hosted website.
However, using WordPress sandboxes will help you and your team collaborate and work on projects effectively both onsite and remotely.
Burden of Pushing Out Updates that Break Customers’ Websites
One of the responsibilities of a developer is to care for those using your product.
If you neglect this responsibility and push out an update that crashes your user’s live websites, you will lose a big chunk of your users to your competitors.
WordPress Sandbox relieves you of this burden by giving you a safe environment first to test, troubleshoot, and cross-test it with other products for possible conflicts that may arise and cause the breakdown of a live WordPress website.
The Burden of Getting More Customers
Just like you want a test drive before buying a car, most WordPressers wish to test drive a plugin or theme before using it.
As a web developer, one way to stand out among your competitors is to give your potential users a chance to take your product for a test drive in a safe environment outside their live website. And you can do just that by using WordPress Sandbox.
After they see the awesomeness of using your product, they are most likely to choose your product over your competitors.
Who Should Use InstaWP?
InstaWP is for all categories of WordPress users, from WordPress newbies to bloggers, freelance developers, and large WordPress development agencies.
Using WordPress sandbox environments to safely test code snippets, plugins, or themes before taking them to your live WordPress website is a good practice to avoid hurting your health or traffic.
FAQs
What is a WordPress Sandbox?
A WordPress sandbox is an essential staging environment that allows you to test your code changes thoroughly and safely before implementing them on a live site. InstaWP offers a feature-rich and user-friendly environment for creating WordPress Sandbox.
What is sandbox mode in WordPress?
A sandbox mode in WordPress is a staging isolated or safe environment where you can modify your site freely without it reflecting or affecting your live website, especially when something goes wrong. You can use the InstaWP Connect WordPress Sandbox Plugin to spin a WordPress sandbox environment super-quickly.
What is a sandbox used for?
Sandbox is used to create temporary staging or clone websites or product demos to test plugins, themes, codes, page builders, make updates, etc., to eliminate the risk of those changes affecting a live website.
How do I create a sandbox in WordPress?
You can create a sandbox in WordPress using InstaWP. You create an account and create a sandbox WordPress website. You can create a primary site from scratch, use our available templates, or clone your website using the InstaWP Connect WordPress Sandbox Plugin.
Conclusion
InstaWP Sandbox websites are instant to create. You and your team can install and test your product individually or against other currently used live websites within minutes.
Try InstaWP today and create a free WordPress sandbox.
