Are beta versions of BB only intended for trying out new features where the code produced won’t actually be used for anything serious, or can a beta version safely be used for working on a real site that’s being developed?
I’m currently using BB 1.6.3 to develop a new site. The site is being developed offline, so it’s not live, and I have a few more weeks to go on it. I’d be delighted to try some of the new 1.6.4 beta features for the site I’m creating, but I’m concerned that if I use a beta version for an actual work project, then there might be errors in the code that a beta version produces.
Is the main risk of using a BB beta version that some aspects of the Page Builder interface might be a little buggy or less refined? Or is there a genuine risk that BB betas will generate buggy code that might not be correctable by reloading and re-saving pages in the release version of BB?
In other words, how much can I trust the code that’s created by a beta version of BB?
Hi Steve,
This is just my own thoughts.
I don’t use the beta versions on a live site (unless the client knows it is WIP & then usually in a folder of the live site or a temp domain.)
It should be noted that the early beta’s often contain bugs, but the guys do update the beta (with no announcement BTW ) - I download the beta every 3 or 4 days to see if it has changed (the zip file will be a slightly different size than the previous one!
But the BB guys are very professional and might talented, and any serious issues are patched promptly.
HTH, Dave
Thanks for posting! Like what the note says on the beta version link, we don’t really recommend using it live sites, only dev sites, since it isn’t stable yet. We usually leave it there for about 2 weeks or until all major issues are fixed. I think right now we have it there longer since the guys had to spend a week at CaboPress.
If you want to have a taste of the new features the beta version offers, I’d suggest playing around with it on your local dev. The more users there are playing with the beta, the faster we can find/fix those pesky bugs! You can also use it on a current project. But if you’re using a feature that contains bugs, you can always downgrade to the stable version and let us know so we can fix it.
Dave,
Justin always create a sticky post for beta releases and that is usually where the bugs are reported. That is also where J announces if he updated the beta with a few fixes. You may want to subscribe to that thread.
I get what you guys are saying, although it doesn’t really answer my core question, which is this:
Is there a genuine risk that BB betas will generate buggy HTML code that might not be correctable by reloading and re-saving pages in the release version of BB?
In other words, is the risk of using a beta version mainly that BB beta won’t be as stable and that it may occasionally crash or lock up or exhibit odd behavior at some points? That’s not a big deal to me. Or is there also a significant risk that the HTML code it generates could be erroneous, such as missing a few closing div tags here and there? That could be a big deal.
I’m only using BB on a local dev site right now (using Desktop Server), but it’s for a site that will be put on a staging server in a few weeks and then eventually go live. If I were to try the beta version, could I still generally trust the HTML code created by the beta version? Or should I assume that any pages created with the BB beta should be thrown out and recreated from scratch using the final non-beta version when it’s released?
) - I download the beta every 3 or 4 days to see if it has changed (the zip file will be a slightly different size than the previous one!
You can also use it on a current project. But if you’re using a feature that contains bugs, you can always downgrade to the stable version and let us know so we can fix it.