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The Pre-Launch Checklist
You get one first impression, and most launches quietly leak users because of details nobody stress-tested beforehand. This is the exact checklist I run before any site or product I design goes live — the UX, accessibility, performance, SEO and conversion checks that separate a launch that converts from one that just goes up. It's free and unlocked: read it here, print it, share it with your team.
01
First impression & visual hierarchy
- A stranger can say what you do, who it's for, and why it's different within 5 seconds — without scrolling
- One clear focal point above the fold; the eye lands on the headline, then the primary CTA, in that order
- A defined type scale (e.g. a 1.25 or 1.333 ratio), no more than two typefaces and four to five weights across the whole site
- Body text is 16px minimum, 1.5–1.6 line height, and 60–75 characters per line for comfortable reading
- Spacing follows a 4px or 8px baseline grid — margins and padding are multiples, not eyeballed one-offs
- Related elements are grouped and unrelated ones separated, so nothing feels crowded (proximity does the work, not borders)
02
Conversion & CTA design
- Each page has exactly one primary action; secondary links never compete with it visually
- CTA copy names the outcome ("Start my free trial") instead of the mechanic ("Submit")
- Forms ask for the absolute minimum — every extra field costs conversions; defer the rest to onboarding
- Social proof (real logos, quotes, numbers) sits next to the decision point, not buried in a lone testimonials section
- You can count every click between arrival and signup, and each step earns its place
- Pricing is visible and honest — no "contact us" wall unless you're genuinely enterprise-only
03
Interaction & UX states
- Every interactive element has designed hover, focus, active and disabled states — not left to browser defaults
- Loading, empty, error and success states exist for anything that fetches or submits data
- Empty states teach the next action instead of showing a blank void
- Error messages say what went wrong and how to fix it, in plain language, right next to the field
- Destructive actions are confirmed or undoable — nothing irreversible is one accidental click away
- Navigation makes the current page or step obvious, so users always know where they are
04
Accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA)
- Text contrast is at least 4.5:1 (3:1 for large text) — check every colour pair, including text over images
- The entire site is operable by keyboard alone; focus order is logical and the focus ring is always visible
- Every meaningful image has descriptive alt text; decorative images are marked empty so screen readers skip them
- Headings form a real outline — one H1, properly nested H2/H3 — chosen for structure, not font size
- Form inputs have visible labels linked in code, never placeholder-only labels that vanish on typing
- Tap and click targets are at least 44×44px with enough spacing to avoid mis-taps
05
Performance & Core Web Vitals
- LCP under 2.5s — your largest hero element renders fast and isn't a slow, unoptimised image
- CLS under 0.1 — images, ads and embeds reserve their dimensions so nothing jumps as the page loads
- INP under 200ms — taps and clicks feel instant, with no heavy JavaScript blocking the main thread
- Images are modern formats (WebP/AVIF), correctly sized, responsive via srcset, and lazy-loaded below the fold
- Fonts use font-display: swap and are preloaded and subsetted so text never hangs invisible
- Third-party scripts are audited — every analytics, chat and pixel tag adds latency; keep only what earns it
06
Mobile & responsive
- Designed mobile-first and tested at 360px wide, not just scaled down from your laptop
- No horizontal scroll at any breakpoint — nothing gets cut off, overlaps or forces a pinch
- Primary actions sit in the thumb zone; nothing critical is stranded in the top corners
- Type and tap targets scale up on small screens rather than shrinking desktop into a phone
- Sticky headers and CTA bars don't eat half the viewport on short mobile screens
- Tested on a real device — keyboard behaviour, safe areas and notches, not just responsive mode
07
SEO & metadata
- Every page has a unique, descriptive title (~50–60 chars) and meta description (~150 chars)
- Open Graph and Twitter Card tags with a real preview image — check how the link looks pasted into Slack or LinkedIn
- One clear H1 per page that matches search intent, with a logical heading structure beneath it
- Clean, readable URLs and correct canonical tags so the site isn't competing with itself
- XML sitemap and robots.txt are in place, and nothing important is accidentally left noindexed from staging
- Structured data (Organization, Product, FAQ) added where relevant for richer search results
08
Copy, trust & launch readiness
- Headlines lead with the benefit; features are framed as outcomes the user actually gets
- Microcopy — buttons, tooltips, confirmations — is consistent in voice and free of internal jargon
- Trust signals are real: working contact info, privacy policy, terms, and only badges you genuinely hold
- Every link works — no 404s, no leftover lorem ipsum, no placeholder images shipped to production
- Analytics and a feedback path are installed and verified firing before you announce, not after
- 404 and offline pages are designed and route people back into the product instead of dead-ending
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Working through this and want a second set of eyes — or you'd rather have it done right the first time? I'm Guljar Hosen, a UI/UX & product designer running the studio NeoDimensional out of Sylhet, Bangladesh. Over 7+ years and 900+ projects I've designed SaaS interfaces, dashboards and landing pages for US startups, working your night shift on GMT+6. You get a fixed written quote, a reply within 24 hours, and frontend-ready Figma handoff. Send me your project and I'll tell you exactly what I'd fix first.
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