THE GITHTML FIELD GUIDE
Run a five-minute readiness review before sharing HTML
Inspect the exact HTML artifact you plan to share, with optional scripts and remote resources off. Check the opening summary, a middle section, and the final action; then sample navigation, code, tables, and images. Record unresolved limitations instead of treating a successful desktop preview as proof that the document is ready.
Verify the artifact, not the workspace
Development environments can supply stylesheets, local routes, and data that the final file does not contain. Begin by locating the committed .html artifact and confirming its revision. Read its source enough to determine whether the body contains real content or just an application shell. A page that looks complete through a development server may still be incomplete as a standalone document.
Record a short review note with the filename, revision or commit, date, and intended reading environment. This is not bureaucratic overhead: it prevents feedback about one export from being applied to a different source version. If the artifact was regenerated after your check, repeat the checks affected by the change rather than carrying the earlier result forward uncritically.
Sample the highest-risk content
Do not spend the entire review admiring the first screen. Check the widest table, longest command, most important diagram, and deepest section link. These reveal more about mobile usability than a short introductory paragraph. Look for content that is clipped, tiny, hidden behind a fixed element, or available only after a script executes.
Read any warning immediately before its associated action and verify that the order makes sense. A prominent destructive command followed several screens later by a caveat is an editorial defect even if the HTML is valid. Confirm that placeholders are obvious and that examples do not contain secrets or real credentials.
Make a clear sharing decision
Classify the result as ready, ready with a stated limitation, or needing revision. For example, a report can be ready with optional external screenshots if the text preserves all necessary instructions. It is not ready if the final recommendation exists only in a chart that fails to render. Keep the decision tied to the reader's actual task.
- Confirm the title, revision, scope, and conclusion are visible.
- Follow two section links, including one near the end.
- Inspect portrait layout and enlarged text.
- Check essential content with scripts and remote resources unavailable.
- State any external dependency in the sharing message.
- Avoid describing an untested artifact as verified merely because a generator completed successfully.
Sources and further reading
AI-assisted writing with source-linked guidance and illustrative examples. Read our editorial approach or report a correction.