Commercial pilots are required to follow strict checklists for every task: take-off, landing, altitude change, trajectory change, air pressure change, etc. Websites, while not usually life critical, are equally as complex as most airplanes. With all the moving parts of a website, such as the database, server hosting configuration and the actual site itself, it is important to have a system in place where everything is tested and reviewed for functionality.
Carefully Document Your Process
Sites are complex and should have checklists for any feature install or change. This makes sure your site has the best chance of running at peak performance. Checklists mean developers are taking the time to build a quality site. We have three general types of checklists:
For each project:
- Initial Deploy
- Style Change
- Feature change
- Feature addition
- Module Update
- Hot-Fix
- Server Migration
- Server Upgrade
These checks make sure major pieces of the system are working properly before a site is deployed or changes are finalized. These items check important features, some of which are listed below:
- Unit testing
- System testing
- Browser compatibility testing
- Manual database backups before deploy
- File system backup before deploy
- Server snapshots before deploy
- Security and Permissions check
- Cache settings for new features and cache refresh for changes
- Post deploy verification
These are the general checks in place for each project. Some projects are more complicated than others and each one is different because every client has different business goals. Some different checks we use for a specific client are listed below:
- Mobile site testing
- Workflow testing
- Sandbox and live store checkout testing
- Solr and search integration
- Varnish and failover tests
- File download testing
Every person's risk threshold is a little different. While some checks are highly recommended, such as security and unit testing, others are at your discretion based on budget and target audience needs, like testing for a specific internet browser or mobile device.
Good processes in a cockpit save lives and money. Good practices when building a website maintain uptime and ultimately increase user traffic.
Summary
We understand the complexity of building a website, especially with Drupal. Many parts are involved in choreographing the entire system. It is important to have checks in place so each part works properly. We have honed our processes and checklists because websites can become complicated and the potential to fail is high if the right precautions are not in place.
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Photo by Geoffrey Fairchild