How we test

Much of what we publish is practical guidance — what to do, how it behaves, what it costs. Guidance is only worth reading if it has been checked, so this page explains how we check it, and what the trust badge on our articles does and does not promise.

What the "Tested on emDash 1.x.y" badge means

When an article carries a badge such as Tested on emDash 1.3.0, 16 October 2026, it means we performed the steps described, on that version, on that date, and reported what actually happened — including where it diverged from what the documentation implied. The version and date are part of the claim. emDash ships point releases roughly monthly, and behaviour changes between them, so a result is only as current as the version it was tested against.

Tested versus reported

We distinguish between two kinds of statement, and we label them:

• "We did this." A procedure we carried out and observed. These carry the tested badge.
• "This should work." Behaviour we are describing from documentation, source, or the platform's own announcements, but have not run ourselves. We say so, rather than presenting it as verified.

Conflating the two is how most platform coverage misleads its readers. We keep them separate on purpose.

Keeping guidance current

A tested article is not finished when it is published. Each cornerstone carries a review-by date, and when a relevant point release lands we re-run the parts it affects, update the article, and bump the badge and date. The updated date on a piece is a real signal that the guidance has been re-checked, not a cosmetic refresh.

What we test against

Where it matters to the result, we state the environment: the emDash version, the runtime (Cloudflare Workers or self-hosted Node.js), and any relevant configuration. Costs are modelled from published pricing, dated, and linked to source, because pricing changes and an undated figure is a liability.

When we get it wrong

Testing reduces error; it does not eliminate it. If we publish a result that turns out to be wrong, it is corrected under the corrections standard on our editorial policy page — visibly and with a note, not quietly.