A web development company in Chennai can show you a portfolio, and you can test every site in it for free before you shortlist the firm. On screen, portfolios look alike: clean layouts, large photographs, a row of client logos. They differ in speed, in accessibility, and in what the firm hands over after launch. This post gives a five-test scorecard for the portfolio and a seven-item handover list for the contract. The scorecard comes first.
How do you test a web development company's portfolio?
Open each portfolio site and run it through a Core Web Vitals check. Good results at the 75th percentile are a Largest Contentful Paint within 2.5 seconds and an Interaction to Next Paint of 200 milliseconds or less. Cumulative Layout Shift should be 0.1 or less. Record the three numbers per site in one sheet.
Largest Contentful Paint
Good result: 2.5 seconds or less
How to run it: Field data for the site's URL
What it shows: How fast the main content appears
Interaction to Next Paint
Good result: 200 milliseconds or less
How to run it: Field data for the site's URL
What it shows: How fast the page responds to a tap or click
Cumulative Layout Shift
Good result: 0.1 or less
How to run it: Field data for the site's URL
What it shows: Whether content jumps while loading
Accessibility check
Good result: Meets WCAG 2.2 Level AA criteria
How to run it: Keyboard-only walk plus an automated scan
What it shows: Whether the site works without a mouse
Mobile layout
Good result: Usable at phone width
How to run it: Open on a real phone
What it shows: Whether the design holds on a small screen
The thresholds come from web.dev's Web Vitals guidance, which recommends judging the 75th percentile of page loads, segmented across mobile and desktop. A page passes when it meets all three targets. A free tool such as PageSpeed Insights reports field data for any public URL that has enough visitors.
Check mobile first, because phones are where slow pages hurt.
A site with too little traffic has no field data, so use the lab results and label them as lab numbers in your sheet.
Then comes the keyboard walk. Press Tab through the home page and one inner page. You should see where the focus sits at every step, reach the menu and the main button, and leave any pop-up without a mouse. The WCAG 2.2 Recommendation, published on 12 December 2024, defines the criteria, and Level AA is the middle of its three conformance levels.
Ten minutes per site is enough. Keep the sheet simple. The result is a sheet of numbers that puts a website development company Chennai buyers admire next to one they have never heard of. The numbers rarely follow the brand. A famous studio can ship a slow home page, and a small one can ship a fast, accessible site that its client owns outright. Try it on three sites.
Any web development company in Chennai can show a project from last month. A project from three years ago that still passes all three targets suggests the firm maintains what it builds. Look for the oldest live site in the portfolio and test that one first. If it loads in under 2.5 seconds and holds its layout, the maintenance habits are real. If it has slowed down, ask what changed and who was responsible.
What handover items should a web development agency give you?
Request seven items: CMS admin accounts in your name, hosting account ownership, and domain registrar access. Add a staging environment, analytics set up in your property, an accessibility check report, and a scope change clause. Each item decides who controls the site after launch.
CMS handover
Question to ask: Are admin accounts created in our name?
Warning sign: Agency keeps the only admin login
Hosting ownership
Question to ask: Whose account hosts the site?
Warning sign: Hosting billed through the agency with no transfer terms
Domain access
Question to ask: Who is the registrant of record?
Warning sign: Domain registered to the agency
Staging environment
Question to ask: Is there a test copy before every release?
Warning sign: Changes go straight to the live site
Analytics setup
Question to ask: Is analytics in a property we own?
Warning sign: Reports shared as screenshots only
Accessibility check
Question to ask: Will we receive a written check against WCAG 2.2 AA?
Warning sign: Accessibility described as a feature with no report
Scope change clause
Question to ask: How is a new page or integration priced?
Warning sign: Changes absorbed with no written price
Staging deserves one line of explanation. Here it is. A staging environment is a private copy of the site where changes are tested before they go live. A site without one is edited in public.
Handover happens on launch day.
The firm gives you a credentials list, and you test each login before the final payment. A web development agency in Chennai that sells hosting and maintenance should be able to produce that list within an hour, because it already holds every one of those accounts.
Keep the table in the contract as a schedule. Every row then becomes a deliverable that can be checked and signed off, and a missing row becomes a visible gap that cannot surprise you six months later.
Who should own the hosting, the CMS and the domain?
Your company should hold the registrar account, the hosting account and the CMS admin accounts. The agency works inside them with its own logins. Ownership then survives a change of agency. Make sure you have the credentials list on launch day, and test each login before the final payment.
The clean setup takes three steps, and the first is to register the domain in the company's name with a company email address as the contact. Second, open the hosting account yourself and add the agency as a user. Third, create the CMS admin accounts for your own staff, and give the agency separate logins that you can remove.
A domain registrant that turns out to be the agency is one warning sign. A monthly hosting bill that arrives through the agency, with no way to move the account, is another. A single CMS admin login known only to the agency is the third.
The fear behind this search is usually lock-in, and it is a reasonable one. A business owner wants to know that a new supplier can take over the site, with every login and every file, if the first agency leaves. Account ownership answers that fear. The post on shortlisting a custom software development company covers the wider ownership clause, including written assignment of the code. Before you sign with a web development company in Chennai, make this setup a contract term.
Which web development services suit brochure sites and which suit web applications?
A brochure or content site needs a CMS with reusable page templates. A web application handles records and permissions, plus workflows in the browser. Name the job before you pick a firm. The same agency can serve both, and the two projects are scoped and priced differently.
A CMS-based website focuses on publishing: reusable templates, an editor your staff can use, and pages that load fast. Success means your team can add a page without calling the developer. A site like this rarely needs a custom data model, and the project is mostly design, templates, and content. Scope it that way.
Web application development focuses on browser-based work. Users log in, see records that belong to them, and complete a task such as approving an order or updating a stock line. Permissions and validation, plus reporting, carry the bulk of the effort.
Many buyers who search for web development services in Chennai want the first and describe the second, or the reverse. The post on whether your website helps you run your business can help you decide which one you are buying.
What should a scope change clause say in a web project?
A scope change clause says who raises a change, who prices it, and how the launch date moves. It separates a clarification inside the agreed scope from a new page, integration, or feature. Priced changes agreed in writing keep the budget from drifting through small requests.
Here is an illustrative example. Halfway through the build, a client asks for a link to the accounts system so that order status shows on the site. The agency writes a short change request with the extra cost and the revised date, and the client signs it. Without the clause, the same request arrives in a phone call, and the date quietly slips.
Small requests cause the drift, and they are easy to miss. A new form field, an extra filter, and a second language each look trivial in isolation, yet together they can double the work. The clause turns each one into a decision with a price.
Where does Burhani Technologies fit among web development companies in Chennai?
Burhani Technologies has built software since 2010. Our web applications cover browser-based work with records and permissions, and our CMS work covers publishing templates. The sequence is the same on both: discovery; scope and quote; design; build and review; integrate and release; support. Hosting and domain ownership, plus CMS access, are agreed in the engagement.
→ Describe the site's purpose and who edits it, and book a free consultation.
FAQs on choosing a web development company
How do I choose a web development company in Chennai?
Test each portfolio site on Core Web Vitals and walk through it with the keyboard alone. Then request the seven handover items in writing: CMS accounts, hosting, domain, staging, analytics, an accessibility report, and a scope change clause. The firm that answers in writing and on time is usually the safer pick.
What are Core Web Vitals and what scores are good?
Core Web Vitals are three measures of page experience. Largest Contentful Paint should be 2.5 seconds or less, Interaction to Next Paint 200 milliseconds or less, and Cumulative Layout Shift 0.1 or less. The web.dev guidance recommends judging all three at the 75th percentile of page loads across mobile and desktop, so one fast visit proves little. Sample more than once.
Who should own the hosting account and domain?
Your company should own both. The agency works under its own logins, so you can remove access when the project ends. Check every login on launch day, before the final payment. A domain registered to the agency is the most serious warning sign, because moving it later needs the agency's cooperation.
What is a staging environment?
A staging environment is a private copy of the site, where the agency tests changes before releasing them to the live site. A broken form or a layout fault is caught first. Confirm that every release goes through staging and that someone on your side approves it.
Does a web project need an accessibility check?
Yes. Ask for a written check against WCAG 2.2 Level AA, the W3C Recommendation published on 12 December 2024. A keyboard-only walk and an automated scan are a fair start, and the report should list what was tested, what failed, and what was fixed. A claim of accessibility with no report proves nothing. Ask for the paper.
What should a web contract say about scope changes?
The clause should say who raises a change, who prices it, how the launch date moves, and that a clarification inside the agreed scope stays free. A new page or integration gets a price. Changes agreed in writing keep the budget from drifting.
Which test will you run first on the portfolio sites?
Run the portfolio test, collect the seven handover items, and sign with the web development company in Chennai whose answers arrive in writing. A site that loads fast, works from the keyboard, and belongs to you after launch is the real deliverable.
→ Send us the portfolios you are comparing and get in touch.
