The latest articles on DEV Community by Dale (@dale87). https://dev.to/dale87 https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4142148%2F823bf54f-6633-460e-b24e-0a40d2c781be.png https://dev.to/dale87 en Dale Fri, 25 Sep 2026 02:47:37 +0000 https://dev.to/dale87/the-pre-publish-qa-checklist-i-wish-id-had-on-day-one-in-aem-4bb9 https://dev.to/dale87/the-pre-publish-qa-checklist-i-wish-id-had-on-day-one-in-aem-4bb9 <blockquote> <p>Every item on this list exists because something broke in production.</p> </blockquote> <p>I spent four years running content operations on a large AEM site. In that time, I watched a page go live with the staging cache still warm, a promo banner with last quarter's pricing, and a checkout link pointing at the author environment. Each one had the same root cause: someone eyeballed the page in author preview and hit publish.</p> <p>Author lies. Publish tells the truth.</p> <p>So I built a checklist. Not a theoretical one — a "this exact thing burned us" one. I ran it before every publish, and the production incidents dropped off a cliff. Here it is.</p> <h2> 1. Content correctness </h2> <ul> <li>All copy matches the approved source document. No placeholder text, no lorem ipsum, no "TK."</li> <li>Product names, prices, and specs match the source of truth.</li> <li>Dates, times, and time zones are correct and clearly labeled.</li> <li>Legal disclaimers and footnotes are present where required.</li> <li><strong>Critical: any pricing, offer terms, or claims have written stakeholder approval on file.</strong></li> </ul> <h2> 2. SEO and meta </h2> <ul> <li>Page title set, unique, under 60 characters. Meta description under 160.</li> <li>Canonical URL correct — especially for campaign or duplicated pages.</li> <li>Open Graph tags present for anything that will be shared.</li> <li>One H1 per page, headings in order, no skipped levels.</li> <li>Staging and test pages must NOT be indexable. Launch pages must be.</li> </ul> <h2> 3. Links </h2> <ul> <li>Every link clicked and verified — internal and external.</li> <li>No links to author-environment URLs. If you see <code>/editor.html</code> in a href, stop.</li> <li><strong>Critical: checkout, cart, and conversion-path links tested end to end.</strong></li> </ul> <h2> 4. Images and media </h2> <ul> <li>Every image loads at every breakpoint. No broken image icons.</li> <li>Alt text on every meaningful image; decorative images marked decorative.</li> <li>File sizes sane: heroes under ~300 KB, gallery images under ~200 KB. Check the actual rendition, not the original.</li> <li>Correct rendition for each placement — no full-size originals in thumbnail slots.</li> </ul> <h2> 5. Responsive and cross-browser </h2> <ul> <li>Check at mobile (~375px), tablet (~768px), and desktop (~1440px).</li> <li>No horizontal scrolling. Text doesn't overlap anything.</li> <li>Checked in your two most-used browsers (usually Chrome and Safari).</li> </ul> <h2> 6. Accessibility basics </h2> <ul> <li>Color contrast meets WCAG AA for body text (4.5:1).</li> <li>Form fields have visible labels, not placeholder-only text.</li> <li>Page is keyboard-navigable: logical tab order, visible focus, no traps.</li> <li>Videos have captions; audio has a transcript link.</li> </ul> <h2> 7. Personalization and targeting </h2> <ul> <li>Targeting rules reviewed: which audiences see this, and is the logic right?</li> <li>Default (untargeted) experience verified.</li> <li>No audience sees content meant for a different audience. The classic: employees seeing the "new customer" offer.</li> </ul> <h2> 8. Publishing mechanics </h2> <ul> <li>Content activated to the right publish environment — not just sitting in author.</li> <li>Scheduled publishes have the correct date, time, AND time zone.</li> <li>Dispatcher cache flushed for the changed pages — then verified by loading the page in a fresh session.</li> <li><strong>Critical: check on the live URL, not the author preview.</strong></li> </ul> <h2> 9. Analytics and tracking </h2> <ul> <li>Page views registering. Conversion events firing — test each one.</li> <li>Campaign tracking parameters correct on promo links.</li> <li>No duplicate page-view tags after template changes.</li> </ul> <h2> How to run this without it taking all day </h2> <p>For a major launch, run the full list — budget half a day. For routine updates, run the starred critical-path items plus whatever sections the change touches. A copy change needs sections 1–3. An image swap needs 4–5.</p> <p>The rule: <strong>the checklist scales with the blast radius of the change.</strong> A homepage hero gets the full pass. A typo fix gets content correctness and a live-URL check.</p> <p>And keep a QA log — ticket number, date, who ran QA, pass/fail, issues found. When something breaks in production despite QA, the log tells you whether the checklist failed or the checklist was skipped. Those are very different problems.</p> <p><em>This is Chapter 6 of "Adobe Experience Manager Simplified," my plain-language guide to running content operations in AEM — lifecycles, governance, metadata, DAM workflows, Jira intake, launch runbooks, plus 8 copy-paste templates. 38 pages, $39: <a href="https://davidverse176.gumroad.com/l/saaok" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://davidverse176.gumroad.com/l/saaok</a></em></p> aem adobe contentstrategy webdev