Editorial standards

Sourcing hierarchy#

When two sources disagree, we prefer them in this order:

1. Primary specifications and their release notes. Connectivity Standards Alliance (Matter), Thread Group, Zigbee Alliance documents, Z-Wave Alliance specifications, IEEE 802.15.4 and 802.11 standards.
2. Certification and conformance databases. The CSA certified product database, Thread Group certified component lists, Z-Wave certification listings.
3. First-party vendor documentation. Support pages, developer docs, firmware release notes, and published compatibility lists from the manufacturer of the device or platform in question.
4. Open-source implementation behavior. Where a platform is open source, its code and issue tracker often describe what actually happens more accurately than its marketing.
5. Reproducible community reporting. Forum and issue threads are used to establish that a problem is widespread and to describe symptoms, never as the sole basis for a technical claim.

Marketing copy, press releases, and other publications' articles are not sources. They can point us at a source, and then we go read the source.

Specification is not shipping#

The single most common error in smart home writing is treating a feature in a published specification as a feature you can use. A device type added to Matter has to be implemented by a chip vendor, shipped in a product, certified, then supported by each controller you own, each on its own schedule. Our pages keep those layers apart, and the Matter feature gap tracker exists specifically to make the distance visible.

Dating and review cadence#

• Every article carries an updated date (last substantive edit) and a fact-checked date (last time the claims were re-verified against sources).
• Pages covering fast-moving areas (Matter releases, platform features, Thread interoperability) are scheduled for re-check at least every six months.
• Stable-physics pages (radio propagation, frequency allocation, mesh behavior) are re-checked annually.
• Volatile claims carry an inline date, for example "as of September 2026", so a stale sentence is obvious even if you arrive from a search result two years later.

Accuracy rules#

• No statistic without a source. If we cannot source a number, we describe the mechanism instead of inventing a figure.
• No claimed hands-on testing. We analyze documentation, specifications and published behavior. Where a page presents a score or an index, the rubric is published in full on the methodology page so you can disagree with the weighting and recompute it.
• Ranges over false precision. Battery life, range and latency depend on conditions, so we give ranges and state the assumptions behind them.
• Named products are used as examples of a behavior, not as recommendations by default. Where we do recommend, we say what it is best for and what it is bad at.

Independence and advertising#

Smart Living Web is funded by advertising. Advertising is visually distinct from editorial content and clearly labeled. Advertisers, ad networks and manufacturers have no ability to commission, review, edit, approve or remove editorial content, and no page is written because a product is advertised. Where a page mentions a company that also advertises on the site, that has no bearing on what the page says.

We do not accept payment for inclusion in comparisons, tables or datasets, and we do not accept sponsored posts, guest posts, or paid links.

Use of company and product names#

We reference manufacturers, platforms and standards bodies for identification and comparison only. Trademarks belong to their owners. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or speaking for the Connectivity Standards Alliance, the Thread Group, the Z-Wave Alliance, Apple, Amazon, Google, Samsung, Signify or any device manufacturer.

Reader safety and scope#

Some pages touch on mains wiring, smart switches without a neutral, door locks and life-safety devices. Where the safe answer is "hire an electrician" or "do not rely on this device as your only smoke alarm", we say so plainly rather than burying it. Smart home devices are not life-safety equipment unless they are certified as such.

Corrections#

Mistakes get fixed in place, and material corrections are logged publicly with the date and what changed. The corrections page has the policy and the log, plus how to report an error.