How to Get a Dev Version of a WordPress Website?

So you’ve decided to launch a WordPress site and are about to go live, but there’s one thing you want to test out first – the theme. You’ve chosen a theme that you think will suit your needs perfectly, but after you’ve built your site you realize it isn’t what you actually wanted. Now what do you do?

One option would be to go back and switch themes. Another would be to live with the shortcomings of the chosen theme, knowing that there’s still hope to get something good out of it. A third option would be to get the dev version. A dev version is a special version of WordPress that you can install on your computer alongside your live version. It has some additional features that you can turn on that will help you figure out how to make your site work the way you want it to as soon as possible. If you’ve decided to go with WordPress, then this article will tell you everything you need to know about getting a dev version of your site.

What Is A Dev Version?

A dev version of WordPress is a special version of the software that you can download and install on your computer alongside your live version. You can use the dev version to test out new features and to find and fix bugs before the release of a new version. Installing a dev version of WordPress will leave you with two active versions of the platform on your computer – your live version and the dev version. You can switch back and forth between the two versions at any time with the click of a button.

How Do I Get A Dev Version?

To get a dev version of WordPress, all you need to do is visit https://wordpress.org/download/ and click on the Download WordPress button to start the process. You will then get a pop-up screen that prompts you to enter your email address. Once that’s done, you will receive an email confirming that WordPress has been downloaded to your computer.

You can now click on the Start installation button and follow the prompts. A notification bar will appear at the top of your screen as you go through the installation process. When the installation is done, you can click on the Finish installation button to get the login details for your WordPress site. These are the credentials you will need to log in with to make changes to your site.

Why Do I Need A Dev Version?

A dev version of WordPress is important because it has additional features that can help you make your site work the way you want it to as soon as possible. There are a few reasons why you might want to turn on these additional features before your site goes live. If you’re a developer and love to tinker, then you can use the dev version to experiment with new ideas and features.

WordPress is constantly improving and evolving, so you may find that the version you have isn’t up-to-date with the most recent features and innovations. For that reason, a dev version could be a good option for you. If you’re worried about whether or not your site will work the same way on different browsers, then you can test out the dev version on different browsers to make sure it works the same way on all of them. In addition, if you’re running into problems with the theme you’ve chosen, then you can install the dev version and try out other themes or just switch to a different platform like Shopify or SquareSpace.

What Features Does The Dev Version Have?

As previously mentioned, the dev version of WordPress has several features that can help you make your site work the way you want it to. Some of these features are disabled by default so you have to Enable Them from the settings menu within WordPress. Once you’ve done that, your site will start to show additional features that you can access from the dashboard.

• Saving options – This allows you to save products so they display in your online store even when they are out of stock. This is vital if you want to make sure your customers can always find what they are looking for within your store.
• One-click publishing – Allows you to publish content without having to go through hoops to make sure it goes live on your site. If you’ve ever tried to publish a blog post and had to wait several hours for the post to go live, then this option will come in handy.
• Tracking code – Allows you to track the traffic to your site in real-time within the dashboard.
• Tag Editor – Allows you to edit the details of your posts and pages.
• Advanced Custom Fields – Allows you to create custom fields that can be used to store any sort of content.
• Custom Menu – Enables you to create a dropdown menu (similar to a sidebar) that can be used to display any content you want in a dropdown.
• Widget Logic – Allows you to place widgets (such as Facebook and Twitter widgets) on your site and change the layout and appearance of those widgets at any time.
• Child Theme – This allows you to take a preexisting theme and make it easier for users to navigate by creating a custom user experience for your website.
• Translation – Allows you to translate your site into any language you want with the click of a button.
• Revision History – Allows you to track the changes made to any post or page over time.
• Pingbacks & Trackbacks – Allows you to notify other websites that you’ve commented on, whether it’s on Twitter, Facebook, or another website.
• Multisite – Enables you to create multiple blogs (sites) within one account.
• Search Engine Optimization – Improves the ranking of your site within the search results of major search engines like Google.
• Migrating From Another Platform – If you’re already using another platform like Shopify or Tumblr to create your site, then you can use this feature to easily import all of your content into WordPress.

How Do I Switch Back And Forth Between The Live And Dev Versions?

As mentioned above, the live version of WordPress is the one you’ll launch your site from, while the dev version is the one you’ll use to make edits to your site before it goes live. To switch between the two versions, all you need to do is log in to your dashboard and click on the gear icon in the upper right-hand corner to show the settings menu. From there, you can choose the mode you’d like to use – live or dev. Once you’ve made the decision, the next step is to click on the Save Changes button at the bottom of the settings screen to go live.

WordPress makes switching between the two versions easy. The only thing you have to remember is that you’ll have to log out of your site from the live version before you can log in to the dev version. This is to ensure that your dev version doesn’t get cluttered up with changes from the live version when you log in. If you’re worried about losing your content that was previously published, then you can use the Publish button on the Blog dashboard to save all of the posts that you’ve published so far to a local draft that can be accessed from any computer.

Hopefully, this article has helped you understand the reasoning behind getting a dev version of your WordPress site. Since the platform is open-source (meaning that it’s free to modify and use) and constantly evolving, it’s a good idea to try out the latest version before your site goes live. In addition, using a dev version allows you to easily experiment with different themes and layout changes to see which one works best for your site. Last but not least, getting a dev version of WordPress will make it much easier to migrate your content to other platforms like Shopify or SquareSpace if you decide to in the future.