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Beginner Tip:
Prelaunch Checklist
by Larisa Thomason,
Senior Web Analyst,
NetMechanic, Inc.
Launching (or re-launching) a Web site can be a complicated process and you shouldn't rush through it. Take your time and find problems before you post your site! Our list of 10 potential problem areas will help you launch your site with confidence.
This particular checklist focuses on the technical issues that many beginning webmasters don't consider before launching their sites. This month's Webmaster Tips issue also contains handy, annotated checklists that address other important areas:
- Understand what your getting from your Web host. Investigate your prospective host carefully before you sign up for service.
- Know the monthly bandwidth limits. Most hosts limit the amount of bandwidth that sites on a shared server can consume. Music or video files will quickly consume bandwidth, and so will bandwidth thieves!
- Know the cost for extra bandwidth each month. Sites that exceed bandwidth limits usually have to pay extra hosting charges. A cheap hosting account can quickly become extremely expensive.
- Read and understand the Terms of Service (TOS) guidelines. If you violate the TOS, most hosts reserve the right to immediately shut down your site and keep the hosting fees you paid in advance.
- Verify the amount of server storage allowed. If you're going to store a large number of images or multimedia files, you could quickly consume your allotted storage amount and have to upgrade to a more expensive plan.
- Understand the policy regarding CGI scripts. Does the host limit access to all but a few scripts? Will the host install them for you?
- Verify database access and ecommerce shopping cart access. Many hosts support a particular ecommerce package. Make sure it's the best one for your site.
- Confirm your access to server logs. Raw server log data is the most flexible, but not all sites need it.
- Check your page load speed: Up to 50% of Internet users In urban areas may have broadband connections and the broadband market is growing quickly. Even so, keep your dial-up users in mind when creating Web pages. European users are particularly sensitive to download time, because many pay per minute for Internet access!
- Home page downloads within 10 seconds or less.
- Internal pages download within 15 seconds or less.
- Page load time checked using HTML Toolbox's Load Time Check tool.
- Let users contact you. Page contact information (email, street address, and phone numbers) is an important component of Web site credibility. It's also required for admission to most Web site directories like Yahoo and the Open Directory Project.
- Contact link to the webmaster at bottom of every page.
- "Contact Us" page with mailto links or contact form.
- Mailto links structured to hide email addresses from email spiders.
- Street address and phone number on "Contact Us" page. Ideally, this information should also be at the bottom of your home page.
- Test pages at different screen resolutions. As monitors get bigger, visitors' preferred screen resolution changes too. Consider our list of page design tips that help make your pages accessible in multiple screen resolutions.
- 640x480
- 800x600
- 1024x768
- 1280X1024
- Check page display in all browsers and operating systems. Web page display often varies widely between browsers. Page display may also change between different versions of the same browser! Browsers handle HTML code and style sheet specifications according to different rules. Always check your pages in multiple browsers, browser versions, and operating system combinations.
- Netscape
- Explorer
- Opera
- AOL
- WebTV
Checking the screen resolution, browsers, and operating systems can be tedious and time-consuming - not to mention expensive! Our Browser Photo tool gives small Web sites the benefits of a large testing lab but without the high cost and technical requirements.
- Correct all spelling and grammar errors. Don't rely completely on automated tools like the spell check feature of HTML Toolbox. You can still use the wrong word - even if you've spelled it correctly.
- Verify all hyperlinks. Nothing frustrates visitors like broken links, yet many sites contain them. Verify your links using HTML Toolbox's Link Check tool before you launch and after every change to the site.
- Every link on your navigation system is verified on every page. Checking this is easier if you use Server Side Includes (SSI) to manage duplicate page elements.
- Verify all internal text links.
- Mailto links have email addresses spelled correctly.
- External links (links to other Web sites) are still valid. You can't control what other webmasters do, so check your external link accuracy often using HTML Toolbox.
- Use the TARGET attribute to control the number of browser windows opened by external links.
- Give all users access to important content. Don't worry about repeating yourself on your Web site - particularly if you have important Web content inside multimedia or image files. Without duplication, that content will be hidden from search engine spiders and even some human visitors.
- Modify multimedia files to make content accessible.
- Pages with dynamic menu systems have alternate text links.
- Plug-ins are not required to view the site.
- JavaScript is not required to view the site (but may be required for an ecommerce shopping cart system).
- Create a custom error page. Without a custom error page, visitors get the standard 404 error that begins with the generic "File Not Found" message. A custom error page gives visitors useful information and helps keep them from leaving your site in frustration.
- Test your custom 404 page by entering bad URLs into the browser address bar.
- Custom 404 page includes a link back to the home page or the previous page.
- Allow visitors to easily report broken links.
- Usability testing is complete and problems corrected. Get real human visitors and invite them to try and break your site! Usability testing it the only reliable way to uncover usability problems before your visitors complain. Our Web Site Usability Checklist highlights important components of Web site usability.
Review our usability testing article "Test Early, Test Often" for a basic description of usability testing and instructions on how to conduct your own test.
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