How to Preview a Demo Before You Publish It
August 22, 2026
A demo preview is playing your demo the way a viewer will, before anyone else sees it. It takes two minutes and catches the errors that are embarrassing rather than trivial.
The editor is not a substitute: you are looking at a canvas you have been staring at for an hour, at a size no viewer will use.
What to check, in order
- Real data. A customer name in a header, an email in a tooltip, a figure you should not publish. This is the one that actually costs something.
- Every step, not the first. Identifying details repeat across screens, and you stop seeing them by step four.
- Captions read alone. Hide the screens mentally and read only the text -- if the sequence still makes sense, it works for screen readers too.
- The end screen. A demo finishing on a blank screen is the most common conversion leak there is.
- Legibility on a phone. The single most-skipped check and the most common cause of a demo that "did nothing".
Why the editor misleads
You know what every screen is for, so a caption that means nothing to a stranger reads fine to you. And the editor canvas is a different width from the player, so text that is comfortable there can be unreadable in an embed.
Play it as a viewer, at the size a viewer will use, before deciding it is finished.
Preview before sharing a link
A published demo is a public URL. Anyone with it can open it, and links spread further than expected once they are in an email or a proposal.
That makes the preview the last cheap moment to catch something. After publishing, you can fix a demo but you cannot unsend the link somebody already forwarded.
A second pair of eyes
Have someone who did not build it click through. They will find the confusing step in seconds, because they have none of the context you cannot switch off.
For anything going on your homepage or into a deal, this is worth the five minutes it costs.
Frequently asked questions
- What should I check when previewing a demo?
- Real data on every step rather than just the first, captions read alone without the screens, the end screen having a next step, and legibility on a phone. Identifying details repeat across screens and you stop noticing them by step four.
- Why is the editor not enough to check a demo?
- Because you know what every screen is for, so a caption meaningless to a stranger reads fine to you -- and the editor canvas is a different width from the player, so text comfortable there can be unreadable in an embed.
- Can I fix a demo after publishing?
- Yes, and viewers see the updated version, including people you sent it to previously. What you cannot do is unsend a link someone already forwarded, which is why the preview is the last cheap moment to catch something.
Keep reading
This is what Demorta does
Click through it — the same kind of demo you can record of your own product.
Try it on your own product
Record your first interactive demo free.
Five demos on the free plan, forever. No credit card, no trial countdown, no sales call. Install the Chrome extension, click through your product once, and you have a shareable link in about ten minutes.
Start free →