1) Does it work in a bunch of sizes on laptop/desktop monitor?
2) Is it readable/usable on my iPhone?
3) Does www.mysite.com and mysite.com work?
4) Do I list contact info for someone to reach out to me?
5) Do I have some way of capturing signups?
6) Do I have a google analytics snippet working?
7) Is my static content behind a CDN so I don't go down in an easily avoidable manner?
I like to leave this checklist open ended since my definition of 'working' on mobile vs. desktop depends on the project. If I'm throwing an event, it's very important that people are able to register on mobile...if I'm launching an e-commerce store, they might not need to buy but just add their email address.
For a side project you'd probably be better off putting much more basic things like 'does it work on mobile', 'do the email addresses listed actually work', 'is robots.txt still set to disallow google' and 'have you actually gone through a whole order yet' on there. Seriously.
That's actually a better term! It makes a difference whether you are building the side project as a creative hobby (to develop new skills etc.) or in the hopes of turning it into a startup.
Every side project I have ever attempted has taken me ages and never got anywhere. Saying things like localisation need to be done before your MVP ready is nuts.
I'm working on a side project right now. I've tried to learn all my lessons from other attempts. It's just a basic website (landing page). Between building that, trying to sort out product, make a plan, etc - there is barely any time left... I have a full time 9-6 job, and a two hour (total) commute. There's hardly any time left at the end of the day, squeezing out an hours work each day is hard enough. Localisation would never be on my list.
Having the time to check each one of these points is a luxury most side projects can't afford.