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Ask HN: Website go-live checklist app

274 points by DubDubThrow ↗ HN
Hi HN! I was wondering if there's some sort of service that would check our client websites (we're a web agency) automatically before go live. We currently have our own doc to run through but it would be nice if there was something that would automatically do that for us.

Examples for checks are:

- HTTPS and related (HSTS -> cookies etc) enabled/correctly configured

- robots.txt configured

- Correct API keys configured (e.g. Stripe live key instead of test key)

- No dead links

and so forth..

52 comments

[ 1.5 ms ] story [ 108 ms ] thread
corobo
I use a more personally relevant fork of Spatie's checklist

https://github.com/spatie/checklist-going-live

I have not automated anything yet, but there are tools in that checklist that automate some of the process (HTTPS mixed content checks, dead link checks, etc)

sidmitra
One other trick i've used successfully is to not actually go-live on the actual launch date. But go-live much before that and have restricted signup or something. This way you can signup and test around your site in its full production config(even run payments)

You can configure the webserver to show a different landing page if a particular key/cookie doesn't exist. To avoid unauthorized access to the public sections not yet publicly launched

[deleted]
(comment deleted)
totally
Might also check the page rank of the domain. If it was used previously you might be surprised how loathe search engines are to direct requests to you.
rgrieselhuber
We have a lot of agency clients using us (GinzaMetrics) to automate this sort of thing. Feel free to hit me up (ray@).
jesperht
Covers dead links, basic SEO issues, and broken HTML/JS/CSS:

https://monkeytest.it

P.S I'm the author - feel free to get in touch / comment :-)

phpeach
Already using the service and it's great! Thank you!
jaflo
Really liking this. Are results not linked to an account deleted at some point? The privacy policy does not mention that that is the case. Could that be added?
jesperht
Thanks for the kind words! Results are currently never deleted, but that would certainly make sense. I've added it to my task list for the coming month.
josephjrobison
Great service, just signed up a few sites!
jesperht
Much appreciated! Let me know if there's anything you see missing :-)
jordanlev
Looks nice. Question: is there anywhere that explains exactly what the test looks for? I tested out a site of mine and it said everything is ok (go me!)... but I'd like to know what exactly it checked, for example when it says "SEO, looking good" -- what specific things on the page is it looking for?
jesperht
Cheers! Great point. I'm working on filling up Apecademy (https://monkeytest.it/apecademy/) with all the explanations for these tests, and I'll make sure they're linked/summarized directly in the reports. Stay tuned, there's plenty more to come :-)
sleepychu
I'd make /academy route here, apecademy was really horrible for me to parse and I think if I was a bit sleepier I'd have just assumed it said academy
binthere
axe-core for accessibility issues.
instakill
For your question here's a few handy ones:

- https://humaan.com/checklist/

- https://simplesecurity.sensedeep.com/web-developer-security-...

- https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Web_Application_Security_Tes...

I find checklist apps/sites super useful. I've been building my own version of an interactive checklist site for email copywriting: http://honegrow.com/optimize-your-emails

What would be cool would be a checklist aggregator!

hanniabu
love humaan but i wish the state of items you check off were saved in local storage
janfry
For some security specific checks, take a look at:

1. Mozilla Observatory https://observatory.mozilla.org

2. SSLLabs https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/

3. Security Headers https://securityheaders.io/

For a comprehensive appsec checklist see OWASP ASVS https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Category:OWASP_Application_S...

adjohu
Pretty comprehensive and allows you to inspect pages issue by issue:

https://insites.com/

Doesn't currently support API key checks but that seems like a good idea! I'll suggest it. (I work at Insites)

scaryclam
Honestly, I think you'd be better off with your checklist and a competent employee than trying to automate many of those things away to a third party who doesn't know what the project is supposed to do.

Sure, get in tools for things like dead link checking (no-one likes trawling through pages), but for most things it's going to depend on what the site does.

A service will only go so far as to make sure you don't have anything blatently wrong. In my experience, it's the non-blatent things that blow up the worst. Little green lights from a third party are nice and all, but you should still be verifying things are really OK.

mylh
Crawl the whole website. Check SEO issues, spelling, server errors including broken links and missing resourses and so on https://seocharger.com I'm one of the founders. Welcome :)
bhartzer
Siteliner.com (check for duplicate content issues, other crawling issues)
oliveremberton
https://insites.com/ crawls your website in a cloud-based Chrome for both mobile and desktop, so you can check spelling, broken links, JS errors, layout etc.

Or if you prefer something free and lightweight: http://nibbler.silktide.com/

Disclaimer: I work here.

gchokov
It really sucks that I have to provide my domain name, click test while expecting actual test and then I am faced with sign-up form. Too bad that there're so many startups embracing this irritating "growth" hack. I am immediately closing this site and moving over.