Hi not sure where to post this…
So now that I’m getting Design, HTML & CSS, JS down fairly well, I was never mentored on how to properly setup my work environment.
Basically every site I’ve ever worked on has always been “live” or in production. What are some steps and practices I should be taking to properly setup a client’s site while it’s still in the development phase? Password protecting? Test Environment? Robots.txt so SEO doesn’t start to gather info on a “in development” site?
It wholly depends on the tools you use, the type of clients you work for, or the seriousness of the project.
I create simple to mid-simple wordpress pages, so the server-side setup process (with a theme ready) takes no longer than a few days or a
week. If that is similar to your conditions, I would advise against work environments on a different server, as it doubles the setup time, and the discovery of any server-side problems will be also delayed.
use always totally neutral test content, even for your own tests. I had co-workers who had blunders because of this.
always look out for work processes that you can serialize to speed up the process next time. Whether it be a basic page template, start-up scripts, or code snippets.
always try to create the most simplistic environment for the client - If you can, separate an editor and an admin account so that everyday administration wouldn’t be hindered by rarely used options and features.
I don’t know if these are helpful, but I hope it’s something.