Netlify

What can Netlify do for a small business website?

For a shop website, Netlify can serve prepared pages such as the opening hours and menu. If an enquiry form must send a message or save a request, Netlify can run that code in a Function. The app still needs a destination for the message or record.

The same site can do both. The framework, or the tools used to build it, determines what Netlify needs to prepare when it publishes a new version.

How do you get the first useful version online?

Before connecting the code or triggering a release, decide where a test enquiry may go. When you connect the repository, the saved project containing your code, check what Netlify intends to publish. The build command prepares the site. The publish directory is the folder Netlify takes the finished pages from.

• Use the build settings in the guide for your framework. If the home page works but a menu page fails when you open its address directly, check the published files and routing for that framework.
• Check the project’s visibility before sharing its link. On a credit plan, a team can set new projects to start private. A connected code branch can trigger a deployment when you send changes, so check which branch can update the main site.
• Before triggering a release that can run the enquiry code, point it at test records and a mailbox you control. Submit a fake enquiry, check it arrives, then try an invalid submission and make sure the site does not report that it sent one.

Where should the enquiry form keep its email key?

Put the private key in Netlify’s environment variables. These are settings the app reads outside its source files. Use the key in the Function that sends the email, away from code that runs in the visitor’s browser.

Set a test key for the preview and a live key only where customers should be able to send real enquiries. Build and deploy again after changing the settings so the test uses the intended values.

What can a preview see of your saved records and files?

On a credit plan, Netlify Database can hold the enquiry records. When a Deploy Preview is first created, its database branch starts with a copy of production data from that moment. Changes in that branch stay separate from the live database. The copy can still contain private customer information.

Netlify Blobs can hold uploads. A site-wide Blobs store is shared across deployments, including previews. A deploy-specific store belongs to one deployment. Find out which store the app uses before testing an upload or deletion.

Check access, the data source and other service settings before creating or sharing a preview. For a review that needs no customer information, use a test project or an isolated test store populated with disposable records and files.

Which activities use the team’s credits?

The credit-based Free plan costs US$0 and comes with 300 credits a month. A live release, visitor traffic and the work done by Functions all draw from the same balance. Building a preview and having people use it can affect the balance in different ways.

Six successful live releases would use 90 of the 300 monthly credits before anyone opens a page. A database can draw from the same balance through its own meters, including computing and data transfer. Estimate it alongside website traffic.

Credit-based plans apply to newer accounts. An older account may still be on a legacy plan. Check the plan and balance shown for your team rather than applying this table to a legacy bill.

On a small screen, scroll the table sideways to read every column.

What happens to your other sites if one uses the credits?

When the balance runs out without a top-up, Netlify pauses all web projects on the team. If one site is busy, another site’s enquiry form can stop accepting messages even when its own traffic is low.

The Free plan has no automatic recharge. Personal and Pro teams can enable it for the whole team, and it starts off disabled. Look at which sites share the balance before deciding whether to accept more charges or let the sites pause.

What can you recover from the Deploys list?

You can choose Publish Deploy on an earlier successful release Netlify still retains. Before you switch, check that the old code can read the current records. For example, a database migration may have renamed a field the old enquiry form still writes.

If the site has automatic publishing on, a later push can replace the restored release. Lock publishing while you check the fix if you need to hold the previous version in place.

Check the file store separately. Site-wide Blobs stay shared across deployments. Files tied to an individual deployment can follow that version on rollback. Confirm the form can still find the records and files it needs.

What should you take with you if you move the site?

Keep the source project, service settings and stored enquiries. If you use Netlify Blobs, check how to export the files separately. Downloading a deployment does not include files in its deploy-specific Blobs store.

Before changing the public address, test one copied enquiry on the replacement site. Check that the record opens, its file can be read and the old email key is no longer needed there.

Where can you learn the next steps?

• Check the app before sharing its live addressRecord real checks for private access, failed actions, saved information, phone screens and recovery.