Front-End Checklist

Overview

The Front-End Checklist is an exhaustive list of all elements you need to have or test before launching any website to production. It has become one of the most starred front-end resources on GitHub, helping thousands of developers worldwide ensure their websites meet the highest standards.

Impact & Recognition

68,000+ GitHub stars - One of the most popular front-end resources
6,600+ forks - Actively used and contributed to by the community
14+ language translations - Available in multiple languages including Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, and more
500+ contributors - A truly community-driven project

Problem Statement

When I was leaving Mauritius and my team of front-end developers, I wanted to ensure they could continue delivering high-quality work. I created a comprehensive checklist based on years of experience and research. What started as an internal tool became something much bigger when I shared it with the world.

Categories Covered

The checklist covers essential areas of front-end development:

Head: Document metadata, favicon, social tags
HTML: Semantics, accessibility, validation
Webfonts: Loading strategies, formats, performance
CSS: Reset, responsive, print styles
Images: Optimization, lazy loading, responsive images
JavaScript: Performance, error handling, testing
Security: HTTPS, headers, content security
Performance: Core Web Vitals, loading optimization
Accessibility: WCAG compliance, screen readers
SEO: Meta tags, structured data, sitemaps

How It Works

Each item in the checklist is categorized by priority:

🔴 High: Essential elements that could cause major issues if missing
🟠 Medium: Important but not critical items
🟢 Low: Nice-to-have improvements

Featured On

The Front-End Checklist has been recognized across the industry:

CSS-Tricks: "The Front-End Checklist is just a tool... everything depends on you." (November 30, 2017)
Product Hunt: Featured on the Front-End Checklist product page
Web Design Weekly: Issue #340 (November 29, 2018)
Barcelona Front-End Development Meetup: Presented the checklist (March 14, 2018)

Technical Implementation

The checklist is maintained as a Markdown document, making it:

Easy to contribute: Anyone can submit improvements via pull requests
Version controlled: Full history of changes and additions
Portable: Can be integrated into various tools and workflows
Accessible: No special software needed to read or use

This checklist inspired the creation of:

Front-End Performance Checklist: Focused specifically on performance optimization
Resources Front-End Beginner: Learning resources for beginners

What's Next

I've been promising a version 2.0 for a while, and it's actively in development. The new version will include:

Updated recommendations for modern frameworks
Better tooling integration
Interactive web application
AI-powered suggestions

Lessons Learned

Building and maintaining this project taught me:

The power of open-source community contributions
How to manage a large-scale project with hundreds of contributors
The importance of documentation and clear contribution guidelines
That solving your own problem often helps thousands of others

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