Graphic design changes on Staging before moving to Production?

Question

I have a Development, Staging and Production workflow for my WordPress site. I am fairly strict about any structural work to be done on the site being done in Staging first, then migrated to Production.

I feel some changes may be better done on Production through the admin interface, such as a simple logo change, and some may be better done on Staging then migrated up to Production, such as a theme alteration.

Where do you draw the line? What changes would you allow directly on the Production site and what changes would you say have to be done on Staging before being migrated to Production, for safety's sake?

Answer 1

I make sure the structure (page-title, categories, custom-post types) have the optimal headings and correct structure before migrating. Small changes such as a logo or minor graphics shouldn't effect the quality of the website once moved to production.

Answer 2

One thing that normally get's me is the use of text widgets, specially when I customize the title and required different class for each (for sample Title Color), I'm forced to use the text-widget-number class, once the site is moved to production the number is reset and normally the class is useless, and have to re make it.

This is can be prevented using php text widget instead.