Issue Taxonomy

Use this taxonomy to classify issues found during dogfood QA testing.

Severity Levels

Critical

The issue makes a core feature completely unusable or causes data loss.

Examples:

• Application crashes or shows a blank white page
• Form submission silently loses user data
• Authentication is completely broken (can't log in at all)
• Payment flow fails and charges the user without completing the order
• Security vulnerability (e.g., XSS, exposed credentials in console)

High

The issue significantly impairs functionality but a workaround may exist.

Examples:

• A key button does nothing when clicked (but refreshing fixes it)
• Search returns no results for valid queries
• Form validation rejects valid input
• Page loads but critical content is missing or garbled
• Navigation link leads to a 404 or wrong page
• Uncaught JavaScript exceptions in the console on core pages

Medium

The issue is noticeable and affects user experience but doesn't block core functionality.

Examples:

• Layout is misaligned or overlapping on certain screen sections
• Images fail to load (broken image icons)
• Slow performance (visible loading delays > 3 seconds)
• Form field lacks proper validation feedback (no error message on bad input)
• Console warnings that suggest deprecated or misconfigured features
• Inconsistent styling between similar pages

Low

Minor polish issues that don't affect functionality.

Examples:

• Typos or grammatical errors in text content
• Minor spacing or alignment inconsistencies
• Placeholder text left in production ("Lorem ipsum")
• Favicon missing
• Console info/debug messages that shouldn't be in production
• Subtle color contrast issues that don't fail WCAG requirements

Categories

Functional

Issues where features don't work as expected.

• Buttons/links that don't respond
• Forms that don't submit or submit incorrectly
• Broken user flows (can't complete a multi-step process)
• Incorrect data displayed
• Features that work partially

Visual

Issues with the visual presentation of the page.

• Layout problems (overlapping elements, broken grids)
• Broken images or missing media
• Styling inconsistencies
• Responsive design failures
• Z-index issues (elements hidden behind others)
• Text overflow or truncation

Accessibility

Issues that prevent or hinder access for users with disabilities.

• Missing alt text on meaningful images
• Poor color contrast (fails WCAG AA)
• Elements not reachable via keyboard navigation
• Missing form labels or ARIA attributes
• Focus indicators missing or unclear
• Screen reader incompatible content

Console

Issues detected through JavaScript console output.

• Uncaught exceptions and unhandled promise rejections
• Failed network requests (4xx, 5xx errors in console)
• Deprecation warnings
• CORS errors
• Mixed content warnings (HTTP resources on HTTPS page)
• Excessive console.log output left from development

UX (User Experience)

Issues where functionality works but the experience is poor.

• Confusing navigation or information architecture
• Missing loading indicators (user doesn't know something is happening)
• No feedback after user actions (e.g., button click with no visible result)
• Inconsistent interaction patterns
• Missing confirmation dialogs for destructive actions
• Poor error messages that don't help the user recover

Content

Issues with the text, media, or information on the page.

• Typos and grammatical errors
• Placeholder/dummy content in production
• Outdated information
• Missing content (empty sections)
• Broken or dead links to external resources
• Incorrect or misleading labels