At Cast Iron, quality assurance goes further than making sure our clients and their users don’t encounter bugs. We aim to create websites and applications that are reliable, resilient, and most of all: enjoyable to use. They should load quickly regardless of connection speeds, work well on all screen sizes, and handle missing or inconsistent content without breaking. They should also be built in a way that makes ongoing maintenance easy, so future updates aren’t a headache for us or for anyone else who works on them.
Preparing for the Real World
The web is full of unpredictability. We can’t control which browser or device someone is using, how fast their internet connection is, or whether they’re using assistive technology. Rather than building for a perfect scenario, we build for flexibility.
That means choosing straightforward solutions that reduce the risk of breakage and make the code easier to maintain. We focus on core functionality first, making sure everything essential works before adding extra visual or interactive enhancements. Our layouts are fluid and adapt well to different environments, and we include error handling that helps users when content doesn’t load as expected or is incomplete. These are small things, but together they help make a product feel solid and thought out.
Testing for Real People
Quality Assurance is also about empathy. We put ourselves in the user’s shoes, thinking about how someone will interact with the product in real life. This includes writing and testing user stories by clicking, scrolling, and navigating like an actual visitor, paying attention to what feels smooth and what feels off.
We test accessibility to meet WCAG guidelines by going beyond automated checks and using our products with only our keyboards and screen readers. We test performance under less-than-ideal conditions, using slower devices and networks to look for slowdowns or hiccups. We also take design fidelity seriously. It’s not just about matching layouts to mockups. It’s about making sure the final experience reflects the intent behind the design. When something doesn’t translate well from static comps to a real interface, we make adjustments with care, often finding the best approach as a collaborative effort between our designers and developers.