How do I build a dev area for my site on my server?

[The Noob Coder]

My boss wants me to create a dev region on our current website's server that would have a different version of Wordpress than our current site that we could work on.

Basically we need a directory on the server that is wholly dedicated the dev work of our new beta site, that doesn't interfere with our current main site (http://www.convolutedconstruct.com). We'd like to set a up a directory such that we can view it on the web through www.convolutedconstruct.com/dev or (even better) dev.convolutedconstruct.com.

How can I set up such region on our server that uses a different version of Wordpress while not negatively interacting with our current site? If this sounds vague or you need more details please don't hesitate to ask.

[evo]

So long as it isn't linked to from anywhere, mainly the current website, and you make sure that your robots.txt file is set to not index, nor follow, you should be ok.

Alternatively, you can use a subdomain, e.g. dev.domain.com.

Also, try use a separate database too.

[The Noob Coder]

Originally Posted by evo

So long as it isn't linked to from anywhere, mainly the current website, and you make sure that your robots.txt file is set to not index, nor follow, you should be ok.

Alternatively, you can use a subdomain, e.g. dev.domain.com.

Also, try use a separate database too.

How do I create that subdomain? Also, is it relatively easy to install a different usable version of WP in this dev environment.

[evo]

You should be able to set up a subdomain via your hosting control panel if your host permits it, which it should.

WP will be quite happy to run anywhere, whether it's a subdomain or a directory, and so long as you don't use an existing database, will run without any problems and entirely independent of any other installation.