Standards

The order of checks a site passes before it is live, and the rules it is held to.

The gate chain

The order matters. Each step must pass before the next one runs, and the last step looks at the real thing a reader would load.

1. Regenerate the sitemap. The sitemap is rebuilt from the pages that exist, never edited by hand, so it cannot list a page that is gone.
2. SEO-essentials audit. Every page needs one title, a description, a canonical address, one main heading and valid structured data.
3. AI-wording audit. Copy is scanned for stock phrases, hype words and stacked dashes. A page that reads like a template fails.
4. Preflight dry run. The deploy is rehearsed without publishing. Files, headers, links and asset paths are checked.
5. Deploy. Only after the steps above pass.
6. Verify the real production address. We fetch the live domain readers use, not a preview host, and check the headers and the page itself. A preview address passing proves nothing about production.

A passing chain means those checks passed. It does not mean the site is free of faults.

The standards

S1Static pages.

Plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript. No framework runtime on the page.

S2No trackers, no third-party code.

No third-party scripts or fonts. Fonts are files we host ourselves, with their licences beside them.

S3Strict CSP.

A Content-Security-Policy in the headers file that allows only our own origin, with no inline script or style.

S4Contrast.

Text at 4.5:1 or better against its background, and non-text parts at 3:1.

S5Target size.

Touch and click targets at 44 by 44 pixels or larger.

S6Reduced motion.

With the setting on, nothing animates. The site must be complete without motion.

S7Calculators.

Calculator maths lives in pure functions, with a test whose expected values were worked out by hand.

S8Dated claims.

A claim carries a date and a source. A figure with neither does not ship.

These are targets we check against. Where a page misses one, the build log says so.