#155: Going Through the Pre-Launch Checklist

We are JUST ABOUT to launch this thing! It’s time to look over the last few little issues that need shoring up before we can launch. Bear in mind, the site is no where near perfect. But it’s close enough to launch. We can continue to fix little things and make things better after launch. That’s one of the reasons the web is so awesome. People will definitely let us know about broken stuff and we’ll plan to react quickly.

PHP code highlighting needs some attention. The forum image loading needs some attention. Small screen search results needs some attention.

There is loads more. I’m keeping a list as a file right in my project, which is easy and handy. This is “wish list” kind of stuff though. The site isn’t broken without this list of things. There are also things that are required just to get the site live. Things like:

• Activating the new theme in WordPress and the forums.
• Flushing cache both in WordPress and on the CDN.
• Importing users (Kickstarter list) via the Restrict Content Pro plugin.
• Publishing the launch blog post.
• Announcing via social media.
• Changing some page titles on the live site to match what we created locally. Really, anything “database”-y needs to happen on the live site, since we won’t be moving the local database live. That would be problematic, for example, because we’d lose recent comments and stuff like that.
• There are some Wufoo form settings that need to be updated.
• There are some Plugin settings that need to be updated when the new plugins get activated.
• Changing some settings in Vanilla Forums (e.g. allow Markdown).

And then there is the more ethereal list of things to do going into the future. Like keeping plugging away at The Almanac and longer term goals.