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.
QA is where we bring everything together. It’s how we confirm that the project does what it’s supposed to, feels good to use, and is built with enough care that we’re proud to stand behind it, both now and in the future.
QA in Practice: From First Line of Code to Final Click
QA isn’t a single task or the job of just one person. It’s a team-wide commitment, built into every phase of the work. We don’t save QA for the end of a project—it’s embedded from day one. This is part of our broader design-driven development approach, where strategy, design, and code come together to create cohesive, user-centered experiences.
Development: Writing with Quality in Mind
Before any code is reviewed by someone else, each developer is already thinking about QA. Quality is something Cast Iron developers build in from the start. Everyone on the team is familiar with agency-wide standards for accessibility, design fidelity, and user experience, and lean on shared patterns and practices to meet them.
As we work, we’re constantly checking: Does this interaction feel intuitive? Will this layout adapt to different content or screen sizes? Are we providing helpful feedback when things go wrong? When we run into something unfamiliar like a new UI pattern or an edge case in behavior, we tap into team knowledge and trusted resources to get it right.
This early, embedded QA helps ensure that what we hand off for review is starting from a solid and thoughtful foundation.
Code Reviews: A Second Perspective
Once a pull request is submitted, someone else on their team will review the changes. Reviews vary depending on the situation. A junior developer might get a more in-depth review with feedback meant to teach and guide. A senior developer might want a second opinion on a complex problem they’ve tackled. Sometimes a quick click-through is enough to make sure a small update looks and feels right. Whatever the size of the PR, the responsibility for quality starts with the person who wrote the code—but a second set of eyes helps us catch things we might miss on our own.
Pre-Launch QA: Final Testing Before Go-Live
As we approach a launch, one person steps into a more formal QA role, running through the entire product like a new user would. This isn’t just about verifying that things “work.” It’s about paying close attention to the experience. Does the interface make sense? Do error messages help instead of confuse? Are we accidentally excluding people using older devices or screen readers?
We also test how the product performs under stress—slow networks, failed API calls, empty content fields. And when it comes to browser support, we rely on Baseline to guide our decisions about which features are safe to use and when progressive enhancement is needed.
Beyond Launch: Keeping Quality High Over Time
QA doesn’t stop when we ship. As projects move into long-term support, we keep an eye on performance, accessibility, and user experience. Updates and changes in browser behavior introduce new variables, so we continue testing with the same mindset we had at launch.
By treating QA as something woven into every phase of our work—from first commit to ongoing support—we’re not just fixing problems, we’re building things we believe in.