Customize, save and publish your site

Make changes in Customize

Use Customize to edit your website’s pages, layout and appearance. A template is a starting point: replace its examples with your own work and check the links you want visitors to use.

Preview both desktop and mobile layouts. Your website’s responsive layout and your native member app are separate surfaces; changing one does not automatically change the other.

Saving keeps a draft

Saving your edits does not make them public. Visitors continue to see the published version while you work on a draft.

Publishing makes your saved changes public

Review the whole saved draft before publishing. Publication can include other saved website changes, so check more than the section you just edited.

Members-only content still follows its access rules. A public page layout does not make a paid post or video public.

Delete a page

Open Pages in Customize. A custom page’s menu has Delete. A feature page, such as Commissions, has Remove page, in its menu or in its settings.

Deleting a page changes your draft, so visitors keep seeing it until you publish. Taking a feature’s page off your site keeps what’s in it, such as your services or products, and you can add the page again.

Pages every site needs, such as Membership and sign-in, can’t be deleted. To keep one out of sight, turn it off in your menu.

Start over with a different design

Open Template in Customize and choose another one. Your draft takes that template’s look and pages, and your posts, products and members stay as they are. Your live site doesn’t change until you publish, so you can take your time.

Unpublish your website

To take your whole website down, open Website, open the … menu beside Publish, and choose Unpublish website. Everything stays in your dashboard, and you can publish again at any time.

You can’t unpublish while you have paying members, who would go on paying for a site they can’t open, or while commissions are under way. Contact us if you need help winding those down.

You don’t need to unpublish to redesign your site: visitors see the published version until you publish your changes.

Your website address

Your drate.app address stays with your site, whichever template you use and even while the site is unpublished. It can’t be changed after setup, but you can use your own domain.