Final launch checklist

[derekeder]

Framing / Call to Action

• [x] Make sure that the site has a clear call to action. This should not be 'hey look at this cool tool'. Rather, it should be a way for someone to engage in a meaningful way on the issue being presented.

Some examples:

• Join a mailing list (which means you need to create one)
• Attend an event
• Share on Facebook/Twitter
• Donate to a particular organization
• Create a Tumblr for people to share interesting findings (if it's a data access site)

  Web Search Indexing

• [ ] If you have a staging site, tell the search engine robots not to index you with a robots.txt
• [ ] Make sure you allow indexing when you are ready to launch.

  Google Analytics

• [x] Create Google Analytics account
• [x] Hook up the GA Tracking Code (typically in our analytics_lib.js file)
• [x] Set up relevant Goals and Funnels
• [x] Set up Google Webmaster Tools
• [x] Verify site in Webmaster Tools with DNS TXT record
• [x] Link Webmaster Tools to Google Analytics

  Sharing & Rich Snippets

• [x] Set up general meta tags
  • <meta name=“description”>
  • <meta name=“author”>
• [x] Set up Facebook meta tags & validate here
  • <meta property=“og:site_name”>
  • <meta property=“og:title”>
  • <meta property=“og:type”>
  • <meta property=“og:description”>
  • <meta property=“og:url”>
  • <meta property=“og:image”>
• [x] Set up Twitter meta tags & validate here
  • <meta name=“twitter:card”>
  • <meta name=“twitter:site”>
  • <meta name=“twitter:creator”>
  • <meta name=“twitter:description”> (note that this needs to be under 200 characters)
  • <meta name=“twitter:title”>
  • <meta name=“twitter:url”>
  • <meta name=“twitter:image:src”>
• [ ] Create 2-5 meme images using Canva or a similar tool

  Mobile Friendliness

Test on various mobile devices:

• [x] scrolling is easy
• [x] nav bar works
• [x] hoverable things are tappable
• [x] charts/maps look ok

Using localtunnel to test a site running locally:

1. npm install -g localtunnel
2. lt --port 5000 (or replace 5000 w/ whatever port you're using)
3. navigate to the url that localtunnel gives you

   Miscellaneous Polish

   • [x] add favicon
   • [x] add 404 & 500 error pages

     Load Testing

If your site relies on a database or server-side code, it should use caching and be load tested. If it's a static HTML or Jekyll site, you can skip this section.

• [x] set up page caching
• [ ] write a script to load test all your pages. Here's a good example from Illinois Sunshine

  GitHub Readme

If the site is open source, make sure the Readme.md is complete and accurate.

Here's a few good examples:

• Geomancer
• Illinois Sunshine

The Readme should have the following sections:

• [x] Overview
• [x] Setup
• [x] Running locally
• [x] Team
• [x] Errors / Bugs
• [x] Pull Requests
• [x] Copyright and License

  Outreach

• [x] Write up press release
• [x] Identify who will be the primary person of contact and make their info prominent on the website and all PR
• [x] Identify relevant media contacts to email
• [x] Identify relevant social news sites (reddit, listservs, slack channels)
• [ ] Divide & conquer - send out the media blitz!

[derekeder]

Media outreach spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K_T4i6HQxmsltPtGNfx70kLUuCfdMou_STTc1tfh1vs/edit#gid=0

[fgregg]

the launch happened!