Webpress

Publishing & Domains

How published sites work

Understand the difference between your draft and your live site, what publishing actually does, and why your edits don't appear until you update.

Last updated 2026-06-29

A common question for new users is: "I changed my page — why doesn't the live site show it?" The answer is the difference between your draft and your published site. This short guide clears it up.

Draft vs live

  • Draft — the version you see and edit in the editor. It autosaves constantly, but it's private. Only you (and people you let into your account) can see it.
  • Live — the version the public sees at your web address. It's a snapshot taken the last time you published.

These are two separate things. Editing changes your draft; it does not change your live site until you publish again.

What publishing actually does

When you press Publish (or Update), Webpress takes your current design and turns it into a real, fast website — converting your pages into the standard building blocks of the web and serving them at your address. A few things worth knowing:

  • The published site is self-contained and fast. It doesn't run the editor; it's a normal website, so it loads quickly for visitors.
  • Images are optimized and hosted for you, so your live site doesn't depend on anything fragile.
  • Interactive pieces (accordions, sliders, countdowns, forms) keep working on the live site.

Why "Update" exists

Keeping draft and live separate is a feature, not a bug. It means you can:

  • redesign a page over several days without visitors seeing a half-finished version,
  • preview and perfect changes privately,
  • push everything live in one click when you're ready — with the pre-publish check catching mistakes first.

When you do click Update, your changes replace the live version within moments.

The Webpress badge

Published sites show a small Webpress badge. It's part of how the free and lower tiers work. Higher plans and the billing setup determine whether it can be hidden — see Plans & pricing.

Your site keeps running

Once published, your site is live independently — it keeps serving visitors, collecting form submissions, and recording analytics whether or not you have the editor open.

Where to go next