Understanding Preview Mode

When viewing a WordPress app within Atomic without a primary domain configured, you might receive a notice that your site is in preview mode. In this article, we’ll tell you more about what preview mode is, how it impacts you, and how you can change it.

What is Preview Mode?

Preview mode is a way for you to view your site without having a domain configured. This happens when you do not have a primary domain configured on a WordPress app and attempt to access it using a *.pressdns.com subdomain.

When viewing a site through a preview URL, all caching is disabled. This means that your site may not perform optimally and should not be used for things like performance and load testing.

How Does Preview Mode Impact Me?

If you’re actively developing or performing an initial migration of your site, you won’t notice much of an impact. While we always recommend that you assign a domain (or at least a temporary subdomain) to your site as soon as you’re able to, using the preview URL on a site that isn’t handling much traffic generally isn’t an issue.

When performing any sort of testing on your site, we highly recommend that you use either your final production domain (if your site isn’t live yet), or a subdomain. Since things like caching can impact how your site behaves, accessing your site through your own domain or subdomain will ensure that things are as close as possible to how they will be in production.

How Do I Get out of Preview Mode?

To get out of preview mode, simply switch your primary domain to a domain or subdomain that you own.

For more information on changing domain, see our article on changing the URL of an active site to a new URL. Just a quick reminder: don’t forget to do a search and replace on your WordPress database to reflect the site’s new domain!

Once your site’s primary domain has been changed to a domain or subdomain that you own, you’ll no longer be in preview mode when accessing the site over the new URL.