Avoid Common Web Development Errors With These Simple Tricks

Web development is a tedious, time-consuming task performed mainly by experts, such as a Las Vegas web development agency. They can create impressive websites that help businesses promote their brands, engage with customers, and build their online reputations. By partnering with experienced agencies, you can avoid the following common web development errors:

• Overlooking device compatibility.
• Having a bad code structure.
• Failing coding standards.
• Not clearing browser cache.
• Using unoptimized images.
• Overusing plugins.
• Forgetting code comments.

This guide features simple fixes for these common issues. We have lots to cover. Let’s go!

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Overlooking Device Compatibility

Device compatibility focuses on whether or not a website or web application displays and functions properly across devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Each device has unique characteristics such as screen size, input methods, and interaction patterns. Failing to consider device compatibility results in poor user experience (UX) because users may find it hard to navigate or interact with the website. This leads to frustration and site abandonment. Search engines also consider mobile friendliness as a ranking factor. Websites that are not compatible with mobile devices are harder to find online, affecting organic traffic and local visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). Device compatibility should not be overlooked in web design and web development. The following strategies can help:

• Use a responsive web design to automatically adapt and adjust layout, content, and functionality based on the device’s screen size and resolution.
• Design sites using fluid grids and flexible images that can scale and resize proportionally based on the screen size.
• Adapt CSS media queries to apply different styles and layout rules according to device screen size, orientation, or pixel density.
• Follow a mobile-first approach to focus on mobile devices first and then progressively enhance the design for larger screens.
• Consider the touch input method to ensure that buttons, links, and interactive elements have appropriate sizing and spacing.
• Optimize images and media files to minimize their sizes and load times.
• Use formats suitable for different devices and resolutions, including responsive images or Retina-ready graphics.
• Test the website on different browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, etc.) and their various versions to verify consistent functionality and appearance.
• Conduct regular technical audits to find vulnerabilities within your website that are affecting indexing and ranking.

Having a Bad Code Structure

In web development, the code structure is the codebase’s organization, arrangement, and architecture. It is how the code is divided into files, directories, modules, classes, and functions, and the relationships and dependencies between them. Having an inferior code structure affects a website in many ways. Bad code hampers readability and understandability, affecting developers new to the project or who need to recheck the code after a significant time gap. It leads to confusion, mistakes, and difficulties in debugging or modifications. Investing in good website design brings higher ROI and it starts with good code structure, web developers follow these best practices:

• Divide the codebase into smaller, reusable modules that encapsulate specific functionality to promote modularity, easy testing, and independent development and maintenance.
• Use meaningful and descriptive names for files, directories, variables, functions, classes, and other code entities.
• Separate different concerns and responsibilities within the codebase to keep extra layers (e.g., presentation layer, business logic layer, data access layer) distinct from enhancing maintenance.
• Arrange files and directories logically according to their functionality or purpose.
• Include comprehensive and up-to-date documentation to explain the code components’ purpose, usage, and dependencies.
• Utilize a version control system like Git to effectively manage the codebase.

Failing Coding Standards

Code standards, or coding conventions, are rules, best practices, and guidelines for writing code. These define consistent coding styles, naming conventions, formatting, indentation, documentation, and practices to maintain code quality and readability. Not following such standards harms a website, making it difficult to read and understand. Inconsistent formatting, naming conventions, or coding styles make it difficult for developers to navigate and comprehend the codebase, leading to slower debugging, modifications, and tedious maintenance. Expert developers, such as a Las Vegas web development agency, consider the following steps:

• Define coding standards that align with the project’s requirements, programming language, and industry best practices.
• Create a comprehensive document or style guide that outlines the coding standards and conventions to be followed.
• Ensure that all developers know the coding standards and understand their importance.
• Enforce processes through code reviews, automated linting tools, style checkers, or integrated development environment (IDE) plugins.
• Conduct regular code reviews to confirm adherence to coding standards.
• Use IDEs and developer tools that support code standards.

Not Clearing Browser Cache

Not clearing the browser cache harms a website too. It leads to outdated or cached versions of the site being displayed to users. Despite changes or updates, this results in inconsistent UX, broken functionality, and troubleshooting issues. Web developers must clear the browser cache for efficient site development. Here are the steps to do it:

    A. Clearing Cache in Google Chrome:

1. On Windows and Linux: Press Ctrl + Shift + Delete.

2. On macOS: Press Command + Shift + Delete.

3. Choose “Cached images and files” or other relevant cached data.

4. Click “Clear data.”

    B. Clearing Cache in Mozilla Firefox:

1. On Windows and Linux: Press Ctrl + Shift + Delete.

2. On macOS: Press Command + Shift + Delete.

3. Select “Everything” from the “Time range to clear” dropdown.

4. Select “Cache” or other desired data.

5. Click “Clear Now.”

    C. Clearing Cache in Safari:

1. On macOS: Go to Safari > Preferences.

2. Click on the “Privacy” tab.

3. Click “Manage Website Data.”

4. Choose the websites you want to remove the cache for or click “Remove All.”

5. Confirm by clicking “Remove Now.”

    D. Clearing Cache in Microsoft Edge:

1. On Windows: Press Ctrl + Shift + Delete.

2. Choose “Cached data and files” or other relevant cached data.

3. Click “Clear.”

    E. Clearing Cache in Opera:

1. On Windows and Linux: Press Ctrl + Shift + Delete.

2. On macOS: Press Command + Shift + Delete.

3. Select “The beginning of time” or other desired time range.

4. Select “Cached images and files” or other relevant data.

5. Click “Clear browsing data.”

When developing a website, developers must temporarily disable caching to view your site’s latest version during site development. They can do this by opening the browser’s developer tools (F12 or Ctrl + Shift + I), choosing the “Network” tab, and selecting the “Disable cache” option.

Using Unoptimized Images

Unoptimized pages tend to have larger file sizes, excessive HTTP requests, and inefficient code. Thus, these pages can slow down page load times, negatively affecting the UX. Additionally, since search engines consider page speed a ranking factor, slow-loading pages reduce organic traffic. With the increasing use of mobile devices to search the web, optimizing web pages for mobile performance has become very important. Unoptimized pages are not responsive to mobile devices because of their poor mobile-friendly design. This leads to a bad experience for mobile users and lost business opportunities. To optimize pages, follow these strategies:

• Reduce the size of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and image files by minimizing whitespace, removing comments, and compressing files.
• Compress images without sacrificing visual quality using formats suitable for different use cases (e.g., JPEG for photos and PNG for transparent graphics).
• Allow browser caching by setting appropriate cache headers and adding expiry dates for static resources.
• Reduce HTTP requests by combining or bundling CSS and JavaScript files, sprite sheets for icons, and minimizing external dependencies.
• Use Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) to distribute static assets across different servers worldwide.
• Enable GZIP compression on the server to reduce file sizes during transmission.
• Optimize database queries to minimize response times and reduce server load.

Overusing Plugins

Plugins are software added to a website’s content management system (CMS) or web application to add specific features. They provide pre-built functionality that can be easily integrated without custom coding. While plugins can be helpful and convenient, having too many can harm a website. Each plugin adds extra code and functionality to the website, which increases the overall page size and complexity. Plugins slow down page load times, increase server load, and increase resource consumption. Issues between plugins or inefficiently coded plugins also cause performance issues or crashes. Plugins may introduce security vulnerabilities and may not always work well together or with the latest version of the CMS. Each plugin requires regular updates to address security vulnerabilities, making managing numerous plugins time-consuming. To minimize the use of plugins and prevent potential issues, web developers should consider the following approaches:

• Consider if the functionality the plugin provides is essential for the website.
• Perform thorough research before installing any plugin. Choose reputable sources, such as official plugin repositories or trusted developers.
• Choose multipurpose or comprehensive plugins that offer a broader range of functionalities.
• Explore custom development for specific functionalities instead of relying on plugins.
• Optimize the configurations and settings of essential plugins and disable new features or options.
• Use code snippets or custom functions to achieve specific functionalities without adding plugins to the website.

Forgetting Code Comments

Code comments are explanatory notes that developers include within the source code of a web application or website. They provide additional context, explanations, or documentation about the code. They make it more understandable and readable by providing critical insights into its purpose, functionality, or intent behind code blocks or logic. Another important use of code comments is for the site’s future maintenance and updates. Comments remind developers of the original intentions, making modifications and extensions easier. Developers use the following code comments as best practices:

• Write comments clearly and concisely, using simple and understandable language.
• Add comments to essential functions, complex logic blocks, or sections that may not be immediately apparent.
• Avoid excessive comments for self-explanatory code.
• Make it a habit to write comments as the code is being written rather than adding them later.
• Provide meaningful descriptions and explanations in the comments.
• Keep comments up to date as the code evolves.
• Follow consistent formatting conventions for comments within the codebase to maintain code readability.

Summing Up

Avoid typical web development errors by partnering with an experienced and professional developer. With an expertly developed website, you attract and engage your customers, improve the user experience, and boost visibility on organic searches. A Las Vegas web development agency is your ticket to a well-developed website. Find out more about web development. Contact Digital Authority Partners (DAP) today.