Sunday, August 7, 2011

Website Launch Checklist

Launch day is one of the scariest and most stressful times in web development. Getting everyone on the same page in terms of what's going to happen and when it's going to happen goes a long way in making the entire process smoother.

Things are less likely to go wrong and people are less likely to start throwing recriminations around if the processes for deployment and dealing with issues are well documented.

The following is a list I've been building up in my notes of some of the things that should be done in preparation for launching a new site or major revamp.


Client/Product Owner 
  • Site and content has been signed off by appropriate people.
  • Any potential downtime and exact release times have been confirmed and communicated to everyone involved. Involved means everything from developers to people in marketing who organised that snazzy TV promo.
  • Everyone knows who's in charge of what and where notifications need to go for any immediate problems. This process is organised with designated communication points so that the deployment team don't get flooded with notifications if things go wrong.


Look and Feel
  • Images have appropriate Alt Text for both accessibility and SEO.
  • Pages have sensible Titles.
    • Pages have Appropriate Meta Tags.
      • Favicon is in place.
      • Friendly error pages, particular 404 and 500 error pages.
      • Contact Us page has appropriate details.
      • Copyright info is in place.
      • Someone has gone through checking for spelling and grammar errors etc.
      • At least some manual testing has occurred to catch any outstanding issues, e.g., weird edge cases or black text on a black background.


      Server Setup
      • Backups are running at appropriate intervals and the steps that are needed to recover using them are documented.
      • Transfer DNS at an appropriate time. Make sure something is in place to handle delays in propagation. 
      • The "www." subdomain is redirecting appropriately, or the reverse if you prefer www. domains
      • Monitoring service is checking site uptime (Pingdom or similar).
      • Something is capturing application errors and reporting them (A service like Airbrake or something better than the default system logging).
      • Deployment process is automated, fast and takes one click or command. You need to be rolling out quickly and any fixes need to be able to go out fast and reliably as well.
      • Set up resource monitoring (Munin or similar).
      • Make sure the site comes back up after power cuts/crashes.
      • Penetration testing if necessary. Level of security testing should be agreed well before launch as it will affect release schedules.

      Dev Tasks
      • Analytics are in place.
      • Larger sites have a sitemap.xml for bots to read.
      • Automated tests are in place. The level of automated testing being used should have been decided early in the project.
      • Testing has occurred across browsers that are being supported. Browser support decisions should have been made at the beginning of the project.
      • Devs know what the expected release load will be and they have resources in place to handle it.
      • The site should be load tested for the expected load. At the very least, it should be checked with reasonable load for any performance anomalies.
      • Set up a robots.txt 
      • Run a website performance tool such as Yslow over the site. 

      Other Tasks
      • Put a catch-all email address on the domain.
      • Wrap-Up and review meeting with the team.
      • Write a case study and/or take some pictures to add the site to your profile.
      • Party

      Did I miss anything? Leave a comment and tell me about it.

      212 comments:

      «Oldest   ‹Older   201 – 212 of 212
      Unknown said...

      If you are looking the best packing and moving company in Noida Sector 37, Dealkare is safe and reliable packers and movers.
      Home Shifting services in Noida Sector 37

      Unknown said...

      Here we arrange safe, secure, reliable and smooth Packing and Moving Services in Kaushambi.

      Packers and Movers in Kaushambi
      Home Shifting Services in Kaushambi
      Car and Bike Transport in Kaushambi

      http://jaipurescorts4you.blogspot.in/ said...

      Pune Escorts

      Pune Escort

      Pune Escorts service

      Pune Escorts Agency

      Independent Pune Escorts

      Independent Pune Escort

      Pune Escorts Girl

      Escorts in Pune

      Escorts Service in Pune




      http://www.raipurescortservices.com/udaipur-escorts.html

      Call Girl in Udaipur

      Udaipur escorts call Girl

      Udaipur escorts call Girl services

      Service Call Girl in Udaipur

      Udaipur Escorts

      Udaipur Escort

      Udaipur Escorts service

      Udaipur Escorts Agency

      Independent Udaipur Escorts

      Independent Udaipur Escort

      Udaipur Escorts Girl

      Escorts in Udaipur

      Escorts Service in Udaipur


      http://www.raipurescortservices.com/nagpur-escorts.html

      Call Girl in Nagpur

      Nagpur escorts call Girl

      Nagpur escorts call Girl services

      Service Call Girl in Nagpur

      Nagpur Escorts

      Nagpur Escort

      Nagpur Escorts service

      Nagpur Escorts Agency

      Independent Nagpur Escorts

      Independent Nagpur Escort

      Nagpur Escorts Girl

      Escorts in Nagpur

      Escorts Service in Nagpur

      Cover 4 Less said...

      Thanks for sharing this blog with us. It will be beneficial for us. If you are looking for the best sky HD box insurance cover services then, you will get from cover-4-less.com.

      pojasingh said...

      http://www.brooklynblonde.com/2013/06/red-white-candy-stripes.html?showComment=1439465880363#c6473607008840797972
      http://www.tgfolliard.com/2011/03/buyout-analysis-of-american-eagle.html?showComment=1439465968538#c8811825130482857589
      http://www.littlelostmanuals.com/2011/08/grails-rabbitmq-sending-json-message.html?showComment=1439465975969#c9075672274011709157
      http://blog.kazuhooku.com/2011/07/dena-osc-2011-kyoto.html?showComment=1439465982558#c5733557179169561016
      http://www.larsgeorge.com/2010/05/hbase-file-locality-in-hdfs.html?showComment=1439465998836#c2374314161586982969
      http://www.thelovecraftsman.com/2011/04/home-from-hp-lovecrafts-story-shunned.html?showComment=1439466014039#c7040516495170899559
      https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3007141169144646745&postID=4762154003759174856&page=1&token=1439466030633
      http://www.betweentheboxwood.com/2011/05/hamptons-house-perfection.html?showComment=1439466061625#c2846608854274992075
      https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6966320121254925942&postID=832123298447927895&page=1&token=1439466055635
      https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2702590184182944176&postID=3751981607084139069&page=1&token=1439466085637

      Eliza Beth said...

      This blog is really great. The information here will surely be of some help to me. Thanks!. scherm

      Rajan Mhatre said...

      Nice post, keep up with this interesting work. It really is good to know that this topic is being covered also on this web site so cheers for taking time to discuss this!
      Visit us for 5 layers anti-pollution protective face masks

      ITCORE.CA said...

      Incredible occupation for distributing such a pleasant article. Your article isn't just valuable yet it is furthermore truly useful. Much obliged to you since you have been happy to impart data to us. Get the Structured Cabling provider in Winnipeg. Visit our site for more details.

      Erick said...

      Rapid movers are a Pakistan based moving and packing company providing home/office moving and cargo services to hundreds of customers daily. Our mission is to move you more safe and secure. To move contact, us to get your relocation quote.
      home shifting services
      home shifting services
      movers and packers
      movers and packers
      packers and movers
      home shifting
      home shifting services in lahore

      rapidmovespk said...

      Shifting to a new hospital is a very tough task. But if you follow these rapid-movers-packing-moving-made-easy-now-2021-02-02 your day would be hassle free.


      https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/rapid-movers-packing-moving-made-easy-now-2021-02-02

      China Freight said...

      I got some valuable points through this blog. Shipping From China To Amazon Usa

      Corporate Products said...

      Great post. I was checking regularly this blog and I am impressed! Very useful information, especially the last part. I appreciate such details much.
      I have been looking for information like desktop for rent this for a very long time.

      «Oldest ‹Older   201 – 212 of 212   Newer› Newest»