laertes - 6:16 pm on Sep 16, 2009 (gmt 0)

A good practice is to install a local development version of your wordpress site. You can use a program called XAMPP that installs a virtual server on your machine. Then, when you recieve any code changes from a coder, install them locally first so you can review their effect before uploading to your production site.

This isn't as hard as it sounds. Do a search for "how to install wordpress on your PC" or something similar and you'll find some good turorials.

Once you've installed WP and XAMPP locally, import your live databaase with all the posts, install your theme and any plug-ins you're using, and you'll have your own sandbox site to tinker with.