diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 23b98de05949311613f5ac9f2c8bf753fdfbc9dc..42dfcf539c82952db0e2aa32ade1911eff05a9cf 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -5,13 +5,12 @@ stages:
   - deploy
 
 variables:
-  JEKYLL_ENV: production
   LC_ALL: C.UTF-8
 
 build-page:
   stage: build
   variables:
-    JEKYLL_ENV: production
+    JEKYLL_ENV: ${{ CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "publish" && "production" || "development" }}
   before_script:
     - gem install bundler
     - bundle install
@@ -77,4 +76,4 @@ deploy-production:
     url: https://mude.citg.tudelft.nl/2024
   rules:
     - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == "publish" || $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_NAME == "publish"
-      when: always
+      when: always
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/_config.yml b/_config.yml
index 1ad5464581ade6ed714bb403a3cc48029d280815..fbeec909c7416f711fcc97e6bc8b693fd016065d 100644
--- a/_config.yml
+++ b/_config.yml
@@ -97,4 +97,7 @@ compress_html:
   endings: all
   startings: []
   blanklines: false
-  profile: false
\ No newline at end of file
+  profile: false
+
+is_draft: true
+draft_banner: "This is the DRAFT version of the MUDE 2024 website. Content may change frequently."
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build-page.sh b/build-page.sh
index 6a7ce3fe10281b8afff37a70094dc302d58c5bca..a57eaac9837a4e01f619f2dd98152cb89cfb9d3e 100644
--- a/build-page.sh
+++ b/build-page.sh
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ PAGE_ROOT=$(echo "$PAGE_ROOT" | sed 's:/*$::')
 
 if [ "$IS_PUBLISH_DEPLOYMENT" = true ]; then
     echo "Using publish deployment strategy"
-    # Remove the baner which identifies the book as a draft
+    # Remove the banner which identifies the book as a draft
     if ! command -v yq &>/dev/null; then
         echo "yq could not be found, the draft banner cannot be removed"
         echo "Please install yq (with APT or via https://github.com/mikefarah/yq#install) and try again"
@@ -17,7 +17,15 @@ if [ "$IS_PUBLISH_DEPLOYMENT" = true ]; then
     fi
 else
     echo "Using draft deployment strategy"
+    # Set is_draft to true for draft deployments
+    yq -i '.is_draft = true' _config.yml
 fi
 
-echo "Publishing to  page root: \"$PAGE_ROOT\""
-bundle exec jekyll build -d public -b "$PAGE_ROOT"
+echo "Config file contents after modification:"
+cat _config.yml
+
+echo "Publishing to page root: \"$PAGE_ROOT\""
+bundle exec jekyll build -d public -b "$PAGE_ROOT" --config _config.yml
+
+echo "Build complete. Contents of public directory:"
+ls -R public
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