Deployment

Launch a Website

Launch a website with a calm checklist: verify content, test navigation, add metadata, confirm sitemap and robots output, review accessibility and make sure important pages are easy to find.

What this workflow solves

Target outcome

A launch-ready website with clean metadata, crawlable pages, working links and basic accessibility checks complete.

Prerequisites

Work through Launch website

Track each step, focus the current task and copy a starter outline for your project notes or implementation plan.

0% complete
Review public pages and navigation

Make sure the pages users can reach match the product you are launching.

  • Open the homepage, key section pages and important conversion pages.
  • Check header, footer and mobile navigation links.
  • Remove links to placeholder pages that are not ready.
Starter codeCopy and adapt this outline for the workflow.
# Release checklist
- [ ] Titles, descriptions, canonicals and social previews
- [ ] Favicon, structured data and production hostname
- [ ] Keyboard, forms, contrast and 320px layout
- [ ] Broken links, error pages and redirects
- [ ] HTTPS, sitemap, robots and post-launch monitoring

Work this way

These are the patterns that keep the workflow practical, accessible and easier to maintain.

Open the homepage, key section pages and important conversion pages.
Write unique titles and descriptions for key pages.
Check contrast for primary text, links and buttons.
Run TypeScript, lint and production build.

Avoid these traps

Waiting until launch day to check navigation, metadata and crawl files.
Leaving placeholder links in public navigation.
Assuming a passing local page means the production build is ready.

Step-by-step workflow

Follow the steps in order, then use the resource sections when you need a tool, reference or UI pattern.

1

Review public pages and navigation

Make sure the pages users can reach match the product you are launching.

  • Open the homepage, key section pages and important conversion pages.
  • Check header, footer and mobile navigation links.
  • Remove links to placeholder pages that are not ready.
2

Prepare metadata and crawler files

Search engines and social platforms need consistent titles, descriptions, canonical URLs and crawl hints.

  • Write unique titles and descriptions for key pages.
  • Generate robots.txt and sitemap XML when the framework does not handle them.
  • Check canonical URLs use the production domain.
3

Check accessibility and responsive behaviour

Launch quality depends on the basics: readable text, focus states, mobile spacing and usable forms.

  • Check contrast for primary text, links and buttons.
  • Tab through navigation and forms with the keyboard.
  • Test mobile widths around 390px and tablet widths around 768px.
4

Run final production checks

Before merging or deploying, use the same commands you expect production to survive.

  • Run TypeScript, lint and production build.
  • Inspect generated sitemap output for duplicates or localhost URLs.
  • Verify analytics requests, consent behaviour and key events on the production hostname.
  • Open the first screen of key pages after build.

Verify the result

Verification
  • Run the production build and open key routes from its output.
  • Submit every real form and inspect validation and failure states.
  • Check internal links, redirects, 404 behavior and HTTPS.
  • Inspect the deployed sitemap, robots directives and canonical URLs.
  • After launch, verify indexing tools and production error reporting.
Edge cases
  • Staging robots rules must not leak into production.
  • Protocol, www and trailing-slash variants should converge consistently.
  • A sitemap can expose routes that navigation correctly hides; inspect both.

Tools, cheatsheets and components

Use these linked DevKitYard sections when the guide moves from planning to doing.

Polish launch sections in ElementYard

Use ElementYard to visually tune page sections before the final launch pass.

Open ElementYard

Launch website questions

Is this a deployment tutorial for a specific host?

No. It is a platform-neutral launch checklist for public pages, metadata, navigation, accessibility and production readiness.

Should I launch without a sitemap?

Small sites can still be discoverable through links, but a sitemap helps search engines find canonical public URLs and is worth including.