Before you start
- A website you have finished editing and saved.
- An address to publish to. Every plan can use a free
yourname.instantsite.appaddress.
Publishing takes the saved version of your website and puts it online. Your draft and your published website stay separate afterwards, which is what lets you rework a live website without your customers watching it happen.
Do a final read at phone width
Narrow your browser to about 375 pixels and read every page. This catches more problems than any check, because it is what most of your visitors will see.
Check every button goes somewhere
Click each one in the editor. A button with no destination blocks publishing, and it is much faster to fix now than to work back from an error list.
Check the contact form delivery address
In the sidebar, under Contact form delivery. Without an address set, submissions go to your account email.
Claim your address
Open Domains in your dashboard and claim a name under
instantsite.app. Availability is checked as you type. Keep it short and easy to say aloud.Save, then publish
Publishing snapshots the saved draft, so the editor saves any pending changes first, and stops rather than publishing something older than what you are looking at.
- Errors block publishing: a button with no destination, a link to a deleted page, a form with nowhere to deliver, missing required metadata.
- Warnings do not block it: an empty heading, a low-contrast button. They are worth reading anyway.
Check the live address in a private window
Your own browser may hold a cached copy. A private window shows you what a new visitor sees.
Send yourself a test enquiry
Submit the contact form on the published website (not in the editor) and confirm the email arrives. Check the spam folder if it does not.
- Submissions are rate limited per visitor, so leave a few minutes between repeated tests.
Final checklist
- The website loads at its address in a private browsing window.
- The contact form delivered a test enquiry to the right inbox.
- Phone and email buttons do the right thing on an actual phone.
- No placeholder section is still visible.
- You know that updating means save, then publish again.
To take a website offline, unpublish it. The website, its content and its images are untouched, and publishing again puts it back. Ready for your own domain? Connect a custom domain.