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fix(ui): defer live preview iframe rendering#15999

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jacobsfletch merged 8 commits intomainfrom
fix/lp-auto-draftmode
Mar 19, 2026
Merged

fix(ui): defer live preview iframe rendering#15999
jacobsfletch merged 8 commits intomainfrom
fix/lp-auto-draftmode

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@jacobsfletch jacobsfletch commented Mar 19, 2026

When navigating to a document with live preview enabled, the respective site is optimistically loaded regardless of whether the user is actively previewing it.

This creates the following problems:

  1. If the user's live preview URL is set up to proxy through an endpoint, e.g. to enter draft mode before rendering the page, this will be triggered preemptively, causing "draft mode" to persist for their remaining session. For example, the user may revisit their site after editing a page without live preview, and unexpectedly see draft content.
  2. There are unnecessary performance and network costs of rendering the iframe preemptively. Although the admin panel only dispatches events to visible preview windows, the initial page load consumes resources despite not being visible. For example, the underlying page is still downloaded and rendered (if uncached), its db queries are still hit (if dynamic), etc.

Now, the iframe window is conditionally mounted only when the user toggles into live preview mode. To maintain fast loads thereafter, the iframe doesn't unmount when toggled off. Live preview events themselves are paused, but the window itself remains dormant until reactivated.

In the future we may also want to consider adding callbacks to the live preview toggle event. That way you could reverse what your live preview endpoint has done, e.g. exit draft mode.

Before:

Screen.Recording.2026-03-19.at.11.10.22.AM.mp4

After:

Screen.Recording.2026-03-19.at.11.26.28.AM.mp4

Unrelated:

  • Deflakes the toggleLivePreview test helper by making is event-driven, e.g. it intercepts preference requests to ensure they are fulfilled before moving on.

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github-actions bot commented Mar 19, 2026

📦 esbuild Bundle Analysis for payload

This analysis was generated by esbuild-bundle-analyzer. 🤖

Meta File Out File Size (raw) Note
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packages/payload/meta_shared.json esbuild/exports/shared.js 190.93 KB ✅ No change
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packages/ui/meta_shared.json esbuild/exports/shared_optimized/index.js 16.32 KB ✅ No change
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Details

Next to the size is how much the size has increased or decreased compared with the base branch of this PR.

  • ‼️: Size increased by 20% or more. Special attention should be given to this.
  • ⚠️: Size increased in acceptable range (lower than 20%).
  • ✅: No change or even downsized.
  • 🗑️: The out file is deleted: not found in base branch.
  • 🆕: The out file is newly found: will be added to base branch.

@jacobsfletch jacobsfletch changed the title fix(ui): delay live preview iframe rendering until toggled fix(ui): defer live preview iframe rendering Mar 19, 2026
* Rendering the iframe is a one-way event, e.g. defer load and never unmount.
* This way, subsequent toggles will appear to load instantly.
*/
const setIsLivePreviewing = useCallback<LivePreviewContextType['setIsLivePreviewing']>(
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Here we're intercepting the setter to perform a side-effect, which in this case, switches the one-way setShouldRenderIframe property on.

This is a good example of event-driven > effect-driven state.

let hasSavedPrefs = false
let hasClickedToggler = false

const onRoute = async (route: Route) => {
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Another good example of event-driven patterns, this time to deflake the test helper by intercepting the route itself.

@jacobsfletch jacobsfletch enabled auto-merge (squash) March 19, 2026 20:01
@jacobsfletch jacobsfletch merged commit 9999083 into main Mar 19, 2026
456 of 460 checks passed
@jacobsfletch jacobsfletch deleted the fix/lp-auto-draftmode branch March 19, 2026 20:23
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🚀 This is included in version v3.80.0

jacobsfletch added a commit that referenced this pull request Mar 20, 2026
Continuation of #15999.

Without optimistically loading the live preview window, the initial
loading state is left unhandled when toggling into live preview for the
first time. This causes users to see blank content until the iframe has
loaded, without indication that something is happening.

Now, we display a loading indicator while the iframe request is in
flight, that notably:
1. Only shows if the load takes longer than x ms.
2. If shown, is forced to remain in place for _at least_ x ms to avoid
flickering, even if the request finishes before then.

Before:


https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/70852e80-ac0e-4b96-b59e-8817c65629a6

After:


https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/5fda30d9-8c87-42bc-ba20-a8f7ae8f1245

Related:
- The `ShimmerEffect` component now accepts arbitrary HTML attributes
and supports a new `transparent` prop

---
- To see the specific tasks where the Asana app for GitHub is being
used, see below:
  - https://app.asana.com/0/0/1213727956884086
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