web-quality-audit

# Web quality audit

Comprehensive quality review that combines live browser evidence with source inspection. Covers Performance, Accessibility, SEO, Best Practices, and Agentic Browsing without treating an aggregate score as proof of quality.

> **Lighthouse 13+.** The Performance category now uses shared **Performance Insights** across Lighthouse and the DevTools Performance panel ([announcement](https://developer.chrome.com/blog/moving-lighthouse-to-insights)). Follow current insight names and evidence. Do not require removed audit IDs or automatically recreate their recommendations; some were retired because they were noisy, inactionable, or easy to over-recommend.

## How it works

1. Establish the audit target: representative URLs, important states and journeys, public versus authenticated access, and mobile/desktop scope.
2. If a page can run, read [the measurement workflow](../performance/references/MEASUREMENT.md) and collect a minimal live baseline before searching the codebase broadly.
3. Use runtime failures to localize source inspection. Keep measured findings separate from hypotheses found only in code.
4. Categorize by user impact and confidence, then make or recommend specific fixes.
5. Re-run equivalent automated checks and the affected manual flows. Report what is verified and what still needs field or human validation.

## Tool routing

Use the best capability already available; do not block the audit on optional setup.

| Need | Preferred route | Fallback |
|------|-----------------|----------|
| Performance and Core Web Vitals | Record a browser performance trace and analyze focused insights; with Chrome DevTools MCP, use `performance_start_trace` then `performance_analyze_insight` | Lighthouse CLI or PageSpeed Insights lab data |
| Real-user performance | CrUX values included in current DevTools trace summaries | PageSpeed Insights/CrUX Vis; direct CrUX API only when a key is already available or automation is requested |
| Accessibility, SEO, Best Practices, Agentic Browsing | Run a live Lighthouse audit; with Chrome DevTools MCP, use `lighthouse_audit` | Category-specific Lighthouse CLI audits plus manual checks |
| Rendered semantics and interaction | Inspect the accessibility tree and exercise the UI; with Chrome DevTools MCP, use `take_snapshot` and focused `evaluate_script` | Browser/manual testing |
| Source smoke test | `scripts/analyze.sh <path>` | Direct source inspection |

Chrome DevTools MCP's `lighthouse_audit` intentionally excludes performance. Its navigation mode reloads the page; use snapshot mode when preserving the current authenticated or user-created state matters. The static analyzer is a fast smoke test, not a substitute for a rendered-page audit.

## Audit categories

### Performance

**Core Web Vitals** — Must pass for good page experience:
* **LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) < 2.5s.** The largest visible element must render quickly. Optimize images, fonts, and server response time.
* **INP (Interaction to Next Paint) < 200ms.** User interactions must feel instant. Reduce JavaScript execution time and break up long tasks.
* **CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) < 0.1.** Content must not jump around. Set explicit dimensions on images, embeds, and ads.

**Resource Optimization:**
* **Compress images.** Use WebP/AVIF with fallbacks. Serve correctly sized images via `srcset`.
* **Minimize JavaScript.** Remove unused code. Use code splitting. Defer non-critical scripts.
* **Optimize CSS.** Extract critical CSS. Remove unused styles. Avoid `@import`.
* **Efficient fonts.** Use `font-display: swap`. Preload critical fonts. Subset to needed characters.

**Loading Strategy:**
* **Preconnect to origins.** Add `<link rel="preconnect">` for third-party domains.
* **Preload critical assets.** LCP images, fonts, and above-fold CSS.
* **Lazy load below-fold content.** Images, iframes, and heavy components.
* **Cache effectively.** Long cache TTLs for static assets. Immutable caching for hashed files.

### Accessibility

**Perceivable:**
* **Text alternatives.** Every `<img>` has meaningful `alt` text. Decorative images use `alt=""`.
* **Color contrast.** Minimum 4.5:1 for normal text, 3:1 for large text (WCAG AA).
* **Don't rely on color alone.** Use icons, patterns, or text alongside color indicators.
* **Captions and transcripts.** Video has captions. Audio has transcripts.

**Operable:**
* **Keyboard accessible.** All functionality available via keyboard. No keyboard traps.
* **Focus visible.** Clear focus indicators on all interactive elements.
* **Skip links.** Provide "Skip to main content" for keyboard users.
* **Sufficient time.** Users can extend time limits. No auto-advancing content without controls.

**Understandable:**
* **Page language.** Set `lang` attribute on `<html>`.
* **Consistent navigation.** Same navigation structure across pages.
* **Error identification.** Form errors clearly described and associated with fields.
* **Labels and instructions.** All form inputs have associated labels.

**Robust:**
* **Valid HTML.** No duplicate IDs. Properly nested elements.
* **ARIA used correctly.** Prefer native elements. ARIA roles match behavior.
* **Name, role, value.** Interactive elements have accessible names and correct roles.

### SEO

**Crawlability:**
* **Valid robots.txt.** Doesn't block important resources.
* **XML sitemap.** Lists all important pages. Submitted to Search Console.
* **Canonical URLs.** Prevent duplicate content issues.
* **No noindex on important pages.** Check meta robots and headers.

**On-Page SEO:**
* **Unique title tags.** Make each title descriptive and concise; display truncation varies by device and result type.
* **Meta descriptions.** Write useful, page-specific summaries; search engines may choose a different snippet.
* **Heading hierarchy.** The primary heading is descriptive and the structure is logical; do not fail valid HTML solely for using more than one `<h1>`.
* **Descriptive link text.** Not "click here"