You can absolutely keep your current website live while building a new one in Semplice. In fact, we highly recommend doing so to ensure no interruptions happen with your website.
The easiest way to do this is to create a separate install of both Wordpress and Semplice in either a subdomain or subdirectory on your main hosting server. You can then swap out your existing site with your new Semplice site when you are ready.
Option 1: Installing a new Wordpress site on a subdomain
If you install WordPress on a subdomain, it will work as a completely separate installation from your main site.
If you're unsure how to set up a subdomain, contact your hosting provider and ask them to do this for you. You can also search help section for instructions, if you want to try it yourself.
Option 2: Installing a new Wordpress site in a subdirectory
You can also install Wordpress in a subfolder or subdirectory on your server. For example, if your site URL is www.mysite.com and you install WordPress in a subfolder called "new-site," then the URL for your new site would be at www.mysite.com/new-site.
You can contact your hosting provider for assistance with this, or follow this guide if you'd like to do it yourself.
Making the switch & going live
When you are ready to launch your new Semplice site, you will need to swap it out with your current site. We recommend getting in touch with your hosting provider for assistance to avoid site disruption. Most hosting providers are happy to do this for you.
If you want to use the same domain name for your new site, you will need to point the domain's nameservers to where your new site is installed. For more assistance with this, get in touch with your domain registrar.