Your Pre-Flight Check List
by Heather Champ
It's possible to get so wrapped up when you are preparing to launch a site that some of the smaller details might slip through the cracks... I've slowly been gathering bits and pieces of things to look out for and remember to check before the final curtain rises -- freely admitting that it has been added to the list because I've made the error at some point in my HTML career. It's so easy to upload the files and wipe ones hands but if you answer some of these simple questions you can avoid the possibility of a small faux pas might lead to possible peer ridicule. After all who wants a user to see a missing image icon or read the dreaded "404 - document not found". So please excuse the rapid fire...<HEAD><BODY>
- Is the <TITLE> tag correct? - Don't laugh, I recently surfed past a document entitled "main.html" - very informative!
- Have you included <META> tags which will aid search engines? You can provide a description that will display instead of the first few characters and a specific keywords. You will have to view the document source to see these tags as they are hidden and do not display.
Browser boogie woogie
- Have you closed all your quotation marks? Netscape is far less forgiving than other browsers. Netscape 2.0 was infinitely more picky than previous versions. I discovered this when I had neglected to include the ending " [quotation mark] in my <BODY> tag and my lovely white pages in actual fact were displaying a rather lurid yellow - I wasn't trying to emulate Happy Puppy!
- Are there any Control/8 bit characters that appear - these are typically created when files are copy and pasted from word processing programs that utilize smart quotes ("curly" instead of straight)
- Broken links?
- Missing or broken icon images?
- Do you have "Link rot" or have you created documents that have not been linked to?
- If you have incorporated client side image maps you should ensure that they work throughout the site and that all the links work?
- Do you have and "ISMAP" alternative for those browser which can't interpret the client side image map
- When you resize the browser either narrower [Mac browser default] or wider [PC browser default] significantly rearrange the elements on your document?
Designers tend to be far ahead of the curve in downloading the latest version of their favorite browser. It's easy to plant a link to Netscape or Microsoft to encourage a user to download the latest version so that can view your site the way it was intended to be. You should view your site through as many previous versions of Netscape and Internet Explorer to get an idea of what will be a more typical experience. I have friends who still use Netscape 1.1 to surf. Its a challenge to keep a copy of every conceivable browser working and happy on your machine. An alternative is to send your URL to friends and family who may be harboring earlier versions on a variety of platforms. You can ask a few pointed questions if you think there may be problems or just ask for a general summation of their experience. They might be tickled pink to play "beta-tester" but in the end it will further your bug checking.
This if not a definitive list of every detail that must be considered only the most obvious. Your own experiences will flesh out the list overtime. Questions, questions, questions. But these are all questions that can and should be answered.
