Hand a site to a client

When the site is ready, you give the client their own account with the Content author role. They sign in to a home page for their site, change texts, images and collection items, read form messages and publish. They cannot change styles, layout, the design system or animations, so the design you built stays as it is. You follow what they do in Activity, and you can undo any change there.

Before you start #

• You need the Super admin role: only it invites people and opens Activity.
• Publish the site at least once, so the client starts from a live version they can always return to.
• Mail must work on the server, or the invite is saved but not sent. Mail is set up by whoever runs your Libretto installation; the admin has no setting for it.

Check the site before you invite #

Go through this list. Each item is something the client cannot fix themselves.

1. Forms. For every form, open Content › Forms › Settings, fill in the recipients, then under Send a test choose Preview the test email and Send it to the recipients. A Content author cannot open form settings.
2. Languages. Every text, page title and description has a value in each site language. Untranslated text shows the main language. See Site languages.
3. Components. Anything the client should change in a site component must be an exposed prop. Inside an instance they can edit only what the component exposes. See Site components.
4. Members. If the site has members, check each audience with Viewing as in the editor, and decide whether the client will manage members (a Content author can). See Members and forms.
5. Test accounts. If you signed up test members while building, delete them in People & access › Site members, or sign everyone out in Site settings › Security with Sign out all members. That action cannot be undone.
6. Domain. The site answers on the client's domain. See Domains.
7. Publish once more, so the live site matches the draft you hand over.

Invite the client #

1. Open Platform › Platform users and choose Invite a person.
2. Fill in Email and, if you like, Name.
3. Set Role to Content author.
4. Under Workspace, pick the client's workspace, and under Websites tick their site. You must choose a workspace and at least one website.
5. Choose Send invitation. You see "Invitation sent to …".

The client gets an email with a link to choose their password. The link works once and for 7 days. They open it, see Choose your password, type it twice and choose Set password and sign in.

The invite email is written in the language your admin is in when you send it: the invite has no language field. To write to the client in another language, switch Interface language in the icon strip before you send.

Inviting the same address again before they set a password replaces the earlier link. Inviting someone who already has a password is refused: they use Forgot password on the sign-in page instead.

What the client sees #

After signing in, a Content author lands on the home of their first site: "Write and publish the text, images and items of this website." It has one card per area:

• Publish: "Changed since the last publish:" with the changed areas and a Publish button, or "Everything is live: nothing changed since the last publish."
• Pages: "Open a page to change its text and images."
• Collections: each collection with its count, such as "3 published, 1 drafts".
• Forms: each form with its unread messages.
• Media: the number of files and the latest uploads.

In the editor, the inspector shows them a Content tab with the texts, images and links of the selected element. When they try something their role cannot do, the editor says why, for example "Your role (Content author) can't change styles. Ask a designer." or "Your role (Content author) can't add, move or remove elements. Ask a designer."

What the client can and cannot do #

Tell the client one thing early: a new collection item starts as Draft. It reaches the site only when its Status is Published and the site is published. A site publish alone leaves draft items off the site.

Follow and undo their changes #

Open Site settings › Activity. The Activity log lists every change as one sentence: who did what, to which page, item, form, menu or component, and when. Filter by Person, or by date with From and To.

• Show details opens the operations behind a row.
• Undo reverts that change as a new change. If the change was already published, you see "Undone. The live site still shows the published version." and a Publish button.

When a row cannot be undone, it says why:

• "This change cannot be undone: publish an earlier version or restore a saved copy instead."
• "This change was already undone."
• "A later change touched the same content; undo that one first."
• "Your role cannot undo this change."

To go back further than one change, make an earlier version live in Publish & versions, or restore one page from an older version. See Publish and versions.

What you see #

• In Platform users, the client's row with the role Content author and their site.
• In Activity, their changes appear under their name from their first edit.
• On their site home, the Publish card lists what they changed and have not yet published.

Pitfalls #

• The Content editor role is not a client role. It can change styles, structure and form settings. Give clients Content author.
• The Brand client role only creates brand assets. It does not edit pages.
• A Content author can publish. If you want to review before anything goes live, agree on it with the client: there is no approval step.
• The set-password page and some admin texts still say "Splash", the product's former name. Warn the client so the email does not look like phishing.
• Activity is for Super admins only. If the client asks "who changed this?", you answer it, not them.

Related #

• Invite a client
• Members and forms
• Publish and versions
• Site components
• Glossary