Back-up and Local development

I see many occasions on here where users experience issues with theme updates. The advice is and always has been to ensure a backup is made before updating, but many decide not to, or possibly are not sure how to. With this in mind I can recommend a product called DesktopServer, from https://serverpress.com/

This product allows you to easily create a local server and develop your site offline on your own Mac or PC, then quite seamlessly upload to your live site once you are happy all is well. There is a free and premium version so you can try before you buy, (if you wish). I use the free “Duplicator” plug-in by Lifeinthegrid to create the Archive file and import and export the site to the local or live sites.

Using something like this has obvious advantages during development where you can work offline on the local machine while travelling, allows you to test the site prior to deployment and essentially provides you with a local backup. I have no affiliation with the software above, but find it works well and feel it would benefit many on here during periods of theme updates etc.

There are many videos on YouTube that have tutorials and will show you how the software works, and you can follow the step-by-step guides.