How does one view a new site before going live?

My previous ISP (Cinehost) provided a backdoor link as soon as a customer set up a new site. This enabled the developer to view the site immediately right up until all the nameservers got updated.

I'm somewhat new here at Dreamhost, but I've seen instructions that seem very archaic and time-consuming to do the same thing here ... to simply view a new site in a browser with a temporary URL. But, of course, now I cannot find those instructions.

Has the process been improved upon? It seemed very lame, since I've been so used to having access immediately via a browser once a site was set up.

Would someone be so kind as to direct me to the instructions, which I think included registering with another site, and a few other hoops to jump through.

I think this information should be included in each Dreamhost email confirmation with all the other set-up info.

Thanks much for your assistance. I'll try not to ask any more dumb questions.

In reply to:

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Would someone be so kind as to direct me to the instructions

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No problem, here is the link.

http://www.wiki.dreamhost.com/index.php/DNS_-_Viewing_site_before_DNS_change

The procedure isn't too complex and basically involves creating a free dreamhosters.com sub-domain and setting it to mirror your real domain.

Mark

I think that's it ... thanks Mark.

I'll buy you a beer the next time I see you. ; )