May 31, 2026
Web rules, comment chaos
The Website Specification
A giant website checklist drops, and the comments instantly turn into praise, nitpicks, and wishlist chaos
TLDR: The Website Specification wants to be a simple checklist for what every decent site should include, no matter how it’s built. Commenters loved the idea, but quickly turned it into a mix of beginner gratitude, feature requests for automation, and picky debate over whether some of the suggested items are even common in the real world.
A new project called The Website Specification is basically trying to be the internet’s ultimate house rules: a plain-English checklist of what every respectable website should have, from page titles and readable color contrast to security contact info and even a file for artificial intelligence tools. In theory, it’s simple: answer yes or no to whether your site does the thing, then click for an explanation and the official source. In the comments, though, the real show begins.
The strongest reaction was a split between “finally, this is useful” and “okay, but how real is any of this in practice?” One reader loved it so much they immediately asked for the next obvious escalation: can someone turn this into a skill with scripts so it can automatically check sites and maybe even help build them? That’s peak internet behavior — see a nice checklist, instantly demand a robot. Another commenter admitted they “didn’t even know half” of the special website addresses existed, which gave the whole thing a beginner-friendly glow.
But then came the classic comment-section plot twist: the nitpickers arrived. One person called out a possible categorization issue around security info, while another went full detective mode on the dreamy-sounding change-password shortcut, noting that even big names like Google and Hacker News didn’t seem to have it. Translation: the spec sounds neat, but the internet may not have gotten the memo. The mood overall? Equal parts helpful guide, nerdy fact-check duel, and “please automate this immediately” energy.
Key Points
- •The article presents a platform-agnostic specification of technical features that modern websites should have.
- •The specification covers website elements and files ranging from the HTML `<title>` element to `/.well-known/security.txt`, as well as accessibility and agent-related items such as WCAG contrast and `llms.txt`.
- •Each topic links to source standards and documentation from organizations including WHATWG, W3C, IETF RFCs, WCAG, and MDN.
- •The article states that the specification applies across multiple web platforms and frameworks, including WordPress, Drupal, TYPO3, Next.js, Astro, Hugo, Django, and plain HTML.
- •Readers are instructed to use the resource first as a yes-or-no checklist and then as a drill-down reference explaining what each item is, why it matters, and how to implement it.