Design and themes

Look first.
Readers see it later.

On PixelGlass, a theme you are trying is never the site's until you say so. The Design frame and the preview link show your real site in it, and nobody else sees a thing.

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Say it to your agent

Copy Pixel as a new theme, try a darker palette on it, and send me a preview link before anything changes on the site.

  • create_theme
  • edit_theme_file
  • render_page
  • preview_theme

Two ways to do it.

By hand

In the admin

  1. Open Settings › Design and pick the theme under Theme. The frame shows your site in it.
  2. Use the tabs above the frame to see each kind of page your site has: the home page, a post, a page, a tag, an author.
  3. Turn on Sample posts to see the theme with fifty posts in place of your own.
  4. Try an accent or the theme's settings. The frame shows them before you press Save.
  5. When it looks right, press Make live.

With your agent

In Claude, ChatGPT or your editor

Make a copy of Words called notebook, set its links in forest green, and send me a preview link.

Send me a preview of notebook with sample posts, landing on a post.

Render notebook's tag page and tell me what looks broken.

The tools it calls

  • create_theme
  • edit_theme_file
  • render_page
  • preview_theme
  • activate_theme

A change to the theme your site wears goes live as soon as the theme is whole. To look first, the agent works on a copy and makes it the site's theme with activate_theme when you say so.

For example

  • A redesign behind the curtain

    A newsroom's agent builds the autumn redesign on a copy of Press. The editors open the preview link on their phones for a week, and the site switches on Monday.

  • A fuller look at a new site

    A ceramics studio has three posts. Sample posts fills the frame with fifty, so the owner can judge the grid before she writes more.

  • Every page, not only the home page

    A podcast's producer checks a post, a tag and an author in the frame before the switch, and finds the author page wants a portrait.

Questions, answered

How do I preview a theme on PixelGlass?
Open Settings › Design and pick the theme. The frame shows your own site in it, with a tab for each kind of page. Nothing changes for readers until you press Make live.
Does a preview change my live site?
No. A PixelGlass preview is for the browser that opens it. It is not indexed, not cached and not counted as a visit.
How long does a preview link work?
A preview link from preview_theme opens for a day. A bar at the foot of each page says it is a preview and has Exit preview.
Can I preview a theme with more posts than I have?
Yes. Sample posts in Settings › Design, or sample: true on the agent's preview link, shows the theme with fifty sample posts. Nothing is saved.
Why does my agent work on a copy of my theme?
On PixelGlass, a change to the site's own theme goes live as soon as the theme is whole. A copy made with create_theme stays off the site until activate_theme, so you look first.

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