Journal
Website security and health, explained.
Short, practical guides to the things Zenith checks: what each issue means, why it matters, and exactly how to fix it. Build notes explain how Zenith itself is made.
Guides
12 guides shown
- The security headers every site should sendHSTS, X-Content-Type-Options, Referrer-Policy, frame protection and Permissions-Policy: what each response header does and how to set it.
- A practical guide to Content-Security-PolicyCSP is the strongest defence against cross-site scripting. Learn what it controls, how to roll it out safely with report-only, and how to avoid unsafe-inline.
- Alt text that actually helpsAlternative text is how images work for screen-reader users and when images fail to load. Learn the difference between decorative and informative images, with examples.
- Canonical URLs and duplicate contentOne page can be reachable at many URLs. Canonical tags tell search engines which one counts. Done wrong, they quietly bury your pages.
- HTTPS, TLS and mixed content explainedWhy every site needs HTTPS, what TLS versions to support, how mixed content undermines a padlock, and where HSTS fits in.
- Securing cookies: HttpOnly, Secure and SameSiteThree cookie attributes stop most session-theft and cross-site request attacks. Learn what each does and how to set them.
- Titles and meta descriptions that earn clicksThe title tag and meta description are your listing in search results. Learn how to write ones that rank and get clicked, and the mistakes that waste them.
- robots.txt and sitemaps, done rightrobots.txt controls crawling; a sitemap advertises your URLs; noindex controls indexing. Mixing them up hides pages by accident.
- Finding and fixing broken linksBroken links frustrate visitors, waste crawl budget, and leak ranking signals into dead ends. Here's how they happen and how to clear them.
- Faster images: formats, sizing and lazy loadingImages are usually the heaviest thing on a page. Modern formats, correct dimensions and lazy loading cut weight and stop layout jumping.
- Core Web Vitals: LCP, CLS and INPGoogle's three user-experience metrics measure loading, visual stability and responsiveness. Learn what each means, the thresholds, and how to improve them.
- Let scroll pick the stage, not scrub the animationWhy the story on Zenith's homepage stopped tying every number to the scrollbar, and the prerender bug that nearly froze it at stage zero.