What we check before a site goes live
The actual process we work through before handing over a project.
Outstack Team
Studio
We have shipped enough projects to know what breaks on day one. Not big architectural failures. Small things. A redirect that loops. A form that submits to nowhere. A font that makes the page jump as it loads. None of it is hard to fix, but all of it looks bad when a client shows the site to someone for the first time.
This is the pass we run on every project before it leaves our hands. It is not exhaustive, but it catches everything we have had to fix after the fact.
Redirects and old URLs
If the site replaces something that existed before, we map every URL that matters and walk the redirect chain. One hop is fine. Two is annoying. A loop is a support ticket on launch day.
For redesigns, we pull the old sitemap, crawl it, and confirm every path redirects cleanly or returns a 404 with a useful page behind it. It takes time to do properly, but it protects the SEO work that took months to accumulate.
Forms
We submit every form on the site from a real browser, on a real connection, with real data. Not a unit test. We confirm the submission arrives where it should, the confirmation message reads correctly, and any notification email actually arrives.
Then we test failure. A blank required field. A slow server. A network timeout. A spinner that never resolves is worse than a clear error message, and we make sure it never gets that far.
DNS and certificates
Apex domain and www both resolve and redirect to the canonical version. SSL certificate is valid, not expiring inside 30 days, and the chain is complete. HSTS header is set.
This one catches problems more often than you would expect. A domain moved between registrars and an old CNAME hangs around. Takes a minute to check, has saved more than a few launches.
Performance
We run Lighthouse on the homepage and on whichever page has the most going on, usually a product or service page. We are not chasing a perfect score. Anything under 80 on mobile gets fixed before it ships.
The things that move the needle most are images without explicit dimensions, render-blocking scripts, and fonts loading from a third-party domain. All of them are fixable in under an hour on most projects.
Accessibility
We run an automated audit and fix everything flagged as an error. The usual suspects are missing alt text, low contrast on small text, and interactive elements with no visible focus state.
Then we do a keyboard-only pass through the navigation and forms. Tab order, skip links, and focus traps in modals are what automated tools miss most consistently.
Meta and social
Title tags, meta descriptions, and Open Graph images for the pages that matter. We paste each URL into the card validators for LinkedIn and X to confirm the preview looks right before the link goes anywhere public. Five minutes that saves a poor first impression.
Analytics
We confirm analytics is firing on production and not on a staging domain. Then we filter ourselves out and run a real session to confirm a pageview lands in the right property. It is more common than it should be to launch and see the numbers do nothing because the script was pointing at a test account.
Pre-launch at a glance
| Check | What we look for | Where it usually fails |
|---|---|---|
| Redirects | Clean chains, no loops, working 404s | Old CMS paths left unmapped, apex vs www conflict |
| Forms | Submissions land, errors are handled clearly | Staging API keys left in production config |
| DNS and SSL | Both domains resolve, certificate valid | Leftover records after a domain transfer |
| Performance | Lighthouse 80+ on mobile | Unoptimised images, third-party font requests |
| Accessibility | No errors, keyboard navigable | Missing alt text, invisible focus states |
| Meta and social | Previews render correctly on share | Missing OG image, title cut off at the wrong length |
| Analytics | Live pageviews in the right property | Script on staging domain, pointing at wrong account |
One last step
Before we hand anything over, someone who did not build it opens it on their own phone. Fresh eyes on a small screen catch layout problems that a week of desktop work makes invisible. It is not a formal QA process, just a sanity check that consistently earns its place.
Every project we ship includes a sign-off document that records each of these checks. If you want that kind of rigour on your next build, get in touch and we can talk through what your project needs.