Website Deployment Checklist

Website Deployment Checklist

Refer to this guide prior to deploying a website.

Development Tasks

Task

Tools

Priority

Task

Tools

Priority

Create a code repository

GitHub

Required

Determine Browser support

Probably the same as Infusion

Required

Determine Site environment

e.g. static site, dynamic ( Wordpress )

Required

Vagrant Box for testing

Would be helpful to have a vagrant box that has the same configuration as the production server, for testing on.

Nice to have

Establish any required redirects

Also look to see which "old" urls are still trying to be accessed (maybe look at server logs)

Required

Implement Responsive Version

 

Required

Minify JavaScript

Uglify. See if the static site generator can do this automatically.

Moderate

Minify / Optimize CSS

Styles from UIO could be an issue, but should see if the static site generator can do this automatically.

Moderate

Add sitemap.xml ( for SEO )

Moderate

Add Analytics

Google Analytics

Moderate

Hook up to the CI server

Run tests on merge ( need to determine the type of tests to create See: Prior to Deployment Tasks )

Nice to have

 

Prior to Deployment Tasks

Ensure tests are run under the same environments that the production is expected to be. (.e.g same versions and configuration of servers )

Task

Tools

Priority

Task

Tools

Priority

Smoke Test   

 

Required

Automated tests using web driver?

Including testing inputs to the site.

Nice to have

Validate Markup

W3C Markup Validation Service 

Required

Check the custom 404 page loads

 

Required

Check for broken links

Screaming Frog

Required

Look for links that redirect

Screaming Frog 

Nice to have

Make sure that any implemented redirects work

 

Required

Error Responses ( that can be found by crawling the site )

Screaming Frog 

Nice to have

Page Title Issues ( duplicate, missing, long )

Screaming Frog 

Required

Issues with H1s ( duplicates, missing, long )

Screaming Frog 

Required

Network Utilization

Chrome Accessibility Developer Tools extension

Nice to have

Web Page Performance

Chrome Accessibility Developer Tools extension

Nice to have

Check Responsive Layouts / Design

  • Device Toolbar ( Chrome Developer Tools )

  • Responsive Design Mode ( Firefox )

  • Different window sizes

  • Native devices ( e.g. phone, tablet, desktop, etc. )

Required

Accessibility Test - Automated

  • Chrome Accessibility Developer Tools extension

  • Axe-Core browser extension ( Chrome, Firefox )

Nice to have

Accessibility Test - Manual

could make use of some of the above automated tools

Required

 

Post Deployment Tasks

Task

Tools

Priortity

Task

Tools

Priortity

 Re-run "Prior to Deployment Tasks"

Some set or subset of the pre-deployment tasks

Required

Check crawl errors

Google Search Console

Can use same tool as the pre-deployment tasks

Required

Ensure Sitemap present ( for search engines )

Google Search Console

Moderate

Check security Issues

  • Google Search Console

  • Check that the pages all have valid certificates.

Required

Mobile Usability

Required

Page Speed

Google PageSpeed Insights

Nice to have

Ensure site monitoring tools are enabled

Alert for outages, response time, etc.

Nice to have