Why QA Fails (And How to Not Star in That Horror Story)

Have you ever had a launch day go perfectly? Yeah, me neither. But pre-launch QA is where you stack the deck in your favor. Most Framer projects go sideways because of simple stuff: broken links, orphaned pages, or a flow that looks fine in your head but confuses everyone else.

QA isn’t about being paranoid—it’s about being the person who catches the little things before your boss, client, or Google does.

framer website QA visualsitemaps

The Bulletproof QA Checklist for Framer Sites

Want to avoid a surprise 404 on launch day? Steal this checklist and thank yourself later:

✅ Crawl your site—Use VisualSitemaps or screamingFrog  to make sure every page is reachable.
Any dead links will be in the report.

✅ Test all navigation—Main nav, footer, hamburger menu, “forgot password,” everything.

✅ Check for orphans—Pages that don’t link anywhere or can’t be found from the homepage are quietly plotting your downfall.

✅ Test on all devices—Phone, tablet, desktop, toaster (okay, maybe not toaster).

✅ Forms, buttons, CTAs: Click every one. Twice.

✅ SEO basics: Titles, meta descriptions, alt text—don’t skip these, even if you think “no one reads them.”

✅ Performance: If your site loads slower than a dial-up modem, fix it before launch.

Use https://pagespeed.web.dev/

🎯 Download our comprehensive 2025 Framer PreFlight Go-Live Checklist

Framer-Preflight-GoLive-Checklist

Automating QA—Framer Tools & Plugins That Save the Day

Why QA by hand when robots can panic for you? Framer has plugins and integrations that crawl your project, highlight broken links, and even test for accessibility problems.

  • VisualSitemaps: Instantly see your full site structure—great for catching orphaned or duplicate pages.
  • QA plugins: Search the Framer library; new ones pop up all the time.
  • Automation scripts: For power users, custom scripts can flag slow pages or accessibility fails before you ever hit “Publish.”
Track Comparisons

Using Sitemaps and IA for Systematic QA

Here’s the secret: QA isn’t just about “did I spell everything right?” It’s about making sure the structure of your project makes sense.

  • Cross-check your visual sitemap and IA diagram against the actual build.
  • Follow every user flow yourself—don’t trust your memory (trust me).
  • Compare the final structure to the checklist you made back at the start (you did make a checklist, right?).

What To Do When You Find a Problem

Breathe In.. and out. 4x.
Don’t panic.
Mark the issue, fix it, re-run your test, and update your team/client.

And if you find something major just before launch, remember: It’s way better to delay by a day than spend a week explaining why the signup page sends users to your old “Thanksgiving Sale” landing page.

Next Steps: