Quality Assurance Checklist

The penultimate step in taking a website live is a quality assurance check done by the Web Team.

Some of what the Web Team reviews is technical: Web developers validate the HTML and review the source code, page weight, styles, and more.

The content of the site—the part of the site that web site administrators edit using Conductor—is also reviewed.

The quality assurance check varies based on the specific needs of the website in question, but there are a number of fundamental principals to consider when preparing content for a website.

• Links and buttons provide context for the destination. ("Click here" and "Read more" should not be used as link text.)
• Links and buttons use actions words whenever possible.
• Avoid large fields of text. Use short paragraphs and limit the number of paragraphs on a single page.
• Use headings consistently and appropriately.
• Use lists appropriately.
• Bold and italics should be used sparingly. Underline should not be applied manually.
• Each page should have a meta description.
• The site should have a meta description.
• Standard images are 80k or less.
• Image descriptions and document descriptions are clear and useful.
• Acronyms are defined on first use.
• Footer includes (at least) a phone number and email address.
• There are no blank, published pages.
• Check spelling on all pages.
• Document links indicate file size and file type. Example: Link (1.5MB PDF)
• Links are working.
• Tables are used properly—only for data and not for layout, and include column headings.
• Setup redirects for key pages, so users are not lost when the current site is retired.