Whenever I’m working on a new website, I often review it at every stage, making sure the site is W3C & WCAG compliant, whether or not the overall design is properly targeting the audience, verifying compatibility across the most common browsers (and yes, IE6 as well), and so on. I have a pretty good mental review process and every critical area is covered before deployment. I often wanted to have a list of everything I reviewed, verified and approved, but just never had the time to compile it. Then a few weeks ago, I came across a web design checklist by Mert Tol which contains a very concise and detailed list of items to look for when building a website.
I’ll forewarn you, the list is lengthy and very tedious, but all the points mentioned are spot on to ensure a smooth design and development process. And while some of you might think it replaces some of the freedom in design work, it actually gives back so much more. After all, there is balance and order in great design.