Small Things I Check Before I Call a Site Finished

This isn't a definitive checklist. It's just the stuff I've personally been burned by enough times that I now check it out of habit, on every single project, no exceptions.

Before I show anyone anything

• Turn the wifi off and load the site on a phone with a bad connection. Not everyone has fibre.
• Fill in every form wrong on purpose. See what the error actually says.
• Zoom the text up two notches. Someone's parent is going to view this at 150% zoom, guaranteed.

Before launch

• Read every page out loud, once. Typos hide from your eyes. They don't hide from your mouth.
• Check what happens when someone hits back after submitting a form.
• Actually send a real message through the real contact form, from a real inbox, not the admin panel.

The one I nearly always forget

Checking what the site looks like the day a plugin or a library updates itself without asking anyone. It's boring to test for. It's also usually the thing that breaks six months in, at the worst possible time, with nobody watching.

Why bother with such a small list

None of this is impressive work. It won't make a portfolio piece. It's the unglamorous ten percent that decides whether anyone ever has to notice something was broken at all.

I'd rather spend an extra hour finding it myself than have someone else find it for me, especially on a Sunday.