A checklist for all projects that are going live

This checklist is used whenever a project is going live at https://spatie.be

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1. Browserstack tests

• [ ] Desktop: test on latest versions of Chrome, IE/Edge, Firefox, Safari
• [ ] Mobile: test on latest versions of Mobile Safari, Android

2. Front end checklist

Assets

• [ ] Search sources for http://. Replace by https://
• [ ] Lint (s)css sources
• [ ] Webfonts: is the live domain configured in services like Typekit, Fonts.com etc.?
• [ ] Is the browserlist properly configured for autoprefixer and babel-preset-env?
• [ ] When using PurgeCSS: check if layout is preserved.

Scripts

• [ ] Is yarn.lock present?
• [ ] Check JS lint errors. Remove all console.log lines in scripts
• [ ] Check for console errors

Page weight

• [ ] Evaluate total weight of at least homepage
• [ ] Open Inspector network/timeline tab to identify heavy assets
• [ ] Check if heavy assets are cached

Audits

• [ ] Use the Chrome DevTools (in incognito mode) and perform a mobile audit (with throttling) to fix common problems.
• [ ] Repeat with a desktop audit.

3. Check content (with an open console)

• [ ] Are all strings / images present (and translated)?
• [ ] Does menu/submenu have a correct active state on every page?
• [ ] Are 404, 500 and 503 pages provided? Do they provide useful content like 'back to home', search or a navigation tree?
• [ ] Check all pages for n+1 problems

Meta

• [ ] Check page titles / descriptions
• [ ] Test Facebook sharing. Provide og-tags if needed
• [ ] Does Favicon load? Pin the tab in Safari to check pinned icon

Repeat this section for all languages

Components

• [ ] Google Maps
  • [ ] API key needed/configured?
  • [ ] Check info windows
  • [ ] Prevent zoom out beyond 1x world
  • [ ] Try clicking on markers
• [ ] Forms: fill out with wrong/right values
• [ ] Video: check with sound on
• [ ] Try subscribing to a newsletter with incorrect & correct email (use correct mail twice to get 'already subscribed' message)
• [ ] Check layout of emails
• [ ] Check structured data for news, events, products,... https://search.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool/

4. Back end checklist

• [ ] Open up /blender
• [ ] Remove unused modules from main menu
• [ ] Configure Analytics dashboard
• [ ] Create a new admin and try to log in
• [ ] Try the password reset flow for existing user
• [ ] Try saving article / news / ...
• [ ] Verify all e-mail recipients are correct
• [ ] Scan database for urls to development domain
• [ ] Check client's logo in header

5. Server, DNS & Services

• [ ] Add redirects from old to new pages if necessary.
• [ ] Install Let's Encrypt certificate
• [ ] Check SSL certificate health https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/
• [ ] Check your hostfile to make sure you're looking at the live site
• [ ] Try visiting www domain, should redirect to non-www
• [ ] Try out visiting http, should redirect to https
• [ ] Verify that all http status codes are ok with https://github.com/spatie/http-status-check
• [ ] Scan for mixed content with https://github.com/spatie/mixed-content-scanner-cli
• [ ] Verify that indexing is not prohibited with x-robots-tag: none by checking curl -I https://url | grep 'x-robots-tag'. Allow robots in .env
• [ ] Remove development DNS record
• [ ] Check dns propagation with https://www.whatsmydns.net/
• [ ] Verify Tag Manager / Analytics have been correctly set up

Google Search Console

• [ ] Submit all www/non-www http/https variations
• [ ] Set up non-www https as the preferred domain
• [ ] Crawl > Fetch as Google > Submit to index to kickstart index

Server

• [ ] Are DigitalOcean backups enabled?
• [ ] Are Amazon backups enabled?
• [ ] Is the output of artisan task backup:run ok?
• [ ] Is artisan scheduled on Forge?
• [ ] Is Horizon configured in Supervisor on Forge? Command should be php artisan horizon. Path should be /home/forge/my-new-site.com/current
• [ ] Is the url being monitored by Oh Dear!?
• [ ] Is the server being monitored by our server-monitor?

Github

• [ ] Remove develop branch or other stale branches

About Spatie

Spatie is a webdesign agency based in Antwerp, Belgium. You'll find an overview of all our open source projects on our website.