QA finding
The same component differs from page to page
QA Warning Severity: Medium
Part of the audit The same component differs from page to page. Finding id: qa.templateDrift.
What it costs you
Visitors lose their bearings when the menu or footer changes between pages. Pages on a forgotten template miss the links and notices the rest of the site has.
What to do
Open an example of each version, decide which is current, and move the other pages to it.
What it checks
- Footer or header differs between pages
- Navigation items differ between sections
- Legal links missing on some page types
How to fix it
Add the legal links to the template
- Open the example page and look at its footer.
- Add the link to the policy page named in the finding, or replace the footer with the shared one.
How to check: Crawl the site again. Every page of the template links to the policy page.
Move the pages to the current component
- Open the example page of each version next to each other.
- Find which template or include produces the odd version. Old landing pages and microsites are the usual place.
- Replace it with the shared component, or add the missing legal links to that template.
How to check: Crawl the site again. The component has one version left and every template links to the policy pages.
Thresholds
| Name | Default | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
min_pages | 1 | A template with fewer pages than this is not returned for a missing legal link. |
How to verify by hand
A person; sub-brands are the usual exception.
What this relies on
The most common version is current; the rest were missed in a redesign.