🚀 Production Deployment Checklist

🚀 Production Deployment Checklist

Pre-Deployment Cleanup

✅ Archive Scripts

Run the archive script to clean up development files:

chmod +x archive_scripts.sh
./archive_scripts.sh

✅ Remove Archive Script

After archiving, remove the archive script itself:

rm archive_scripts.sh

✅ Move or Remove Archive

Either add to .gitignore (already done) or move outside project:

# Option 1: Keep locally but exclude from git (recommended)
# Already in .gitignore

# Option 2: Move to desktop for safekeeping
mv _archived_scripts_* ~/Desktop/

# Option 3: Delete if you have backups elsewhere
# rm -rf _archived_scripts_*

Essential Files to Keep

Root Directory

  • ✅ _config.yml - Jekyll configuration
  • ✅ Gemfile & Gemfile.lock - Ruby dependencies
  • ✅ CNAME - Custom domain configuration
  • ✅ .gitignore - Git exclusions
  • ✅ README.md - Project documentation
  • ✅ LICENSE - License file
  • ✅ Page files: index.html, 404.md, about.md, blog.md, etc.
  • ✅ feed.xml - RSS feed
  • ✅ style.scss - Main styles

Directories

  • ✅ _posts/ - Blog posts
  • ✅ _layouts/ - Jekyll layouts
  • ✅ _includes/ - Jekyll includes
  • ✅ _sass/ - Sass partials
  • ✅ _data/ - Data files
  • ✅ assets/ - CSS/JS assets
  • ✅ images/ - All images
  • ✅ _site/ - Generated site (auto-created, in .gitignore)

Verification Steps

1. Test Build

bundle exec jekyll clean
bundle exec jekyll build
bundle exec jekyll serve

2. Check All Pages

  • Homepage loads correctly
  • Blog listing shows all posts with images
  • Individual blog posts display properly
  • About, Projects, Contact pages work
  • Navigation works on all pages
  • No 404 errors in browser console

3. Image Verification

  • Hero images display on blog listing
  • Hero images display on individual posts
  • No broken image placeholders
  • Images load reasonably fast

4. Mobile Responsiveness

  • Test on mobile viewport
  • Images scale properly
  • Navigation works on mobile
  • Text is readable

GitHub Pages Deployment

1. Commit Changes

git add -A
git commit -m "Production ready: cleaned up scripts and fixed images"
git push origin main

2. GitHub Pages Settings

  1. Go to Settings → Pages in your GitHub repo
  2. Source: Deploy from branch
  3. Branch: main (or master)
  4. Folder: / (root)
  5. Save

3. Custom Domain (if applicable)

  • Ensure CNAME file contains your domain
  • Configure DNS settings with your provider

Post-Deployment

Monitor

  • Check live site at your domain
  • Test all navigation
  • Verify images load
  • Check mobile version
  • Test contact form (if applicable)

Performance

  • Run Google PageSpeed Insights
  • Check loading times
  • Optimize images if needed

Backup Recommendation

Before deleting archives, ensure you have:

  • Git repository pushed to GitHub
  • Local backup of archive folder
  • Medium export ZIP saved elsewhere

Quick Commands Reference

# Clean and test locally
bundle exec jekyll clean && bundle exec jekyll serve

# Force rebuild on GitHub Pages
git commit --allow-empty -m "Trigger rebuild"
git push

# Check for large files
find . -type f -size +1M -exec ls -lh {} \;

Notes

  • The _archived_scripts_* directory contains all migration scripts
  • Images are organized in /images/blog/
  • Default hero images are in /images/blog/defaults/
  • All posts have been fixed for proper image display

Ready for production deployment! 🚀