The World Wide Web has come a long way since the term was coined in 1990, from static HTML pages to dynamic applications. There are multiple platforms and tools available which can be used for Web Development. Websites are used as a medium of Digital Marketing, so they cannot be taken lightly and should have a good UX/UI.

Although experienced Web Developers do not make most of these mistakes, beginners tend to make them. Web Development takes time, and making mistakes adds to that time. As Time is Money, we discuss 10 mistakes in this blog that can be avoided during the development stage. So, read on to find out what those 10 mistakes are.

1. Website is Not Made Scalable

In this fast-paced world, all companies want to launch a minimum viable product(MVP) in the market as soon as possible. As a result, even good Web Developers overlook certain essential features, and Scalability is one of them. Developers use a scalable database and web server to separate all application layers. 

Some Web Developers commit the mistake of directly uploading profile pictures of all users on a web server. This is a reasonable solution as it will put a minimum load on your application. But when the application grows, two or more web servers will be required with a load balancer. 

Although the database storage has been scaled, application scalability fails because of profile images. Thus, a synchronization service or a workaround is needed to ensure files are spread across different web servers. This could have been easily avoided using a shared file storage location, database, or remote storage. It would have taken a few extra hours of work, but it would have been worth the trouble.

2. Not Adjustable to Different Screen Sizes

Responsive design has been trending for several years now. However, smartphones & tablets with different screen sizes and resolutions pose challenges for web developers. For seamless navigation & access, the website should be responsive to all device types. 

To achieve this goal, several patterns and practices need to be followed. Twitter Bootstrap is an open-source framework with free HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, adopted by major development platforms. All you have to do is stick to Bootstrap patterns and practices when building your application, and you will get the responsive web application you want. 

3. No Cross-Browser Compatibility

Web Developers are constantly under pressure to deliver as soon as possible, and most overlook design. They generally test an application over one browser, and when the application nears completion, they start trying it over other browsers. This can be done if there is a lot of time for testing.

Some practices can be adopted to save a lot of time, which can be used in testing. For example, test the application in a different browser every couple of days to identify issues early. Another common mistake is to justify not supporting a browser by using statistics or using browser-specific code.

4. No SEO or Missing SEO

The most common reason for no Search Engine Optimization(SEO) or missing SEO is that the Web Developers think they know enough about SEO and it is not complex. SEO requires a lot of time to learn the best practices and ever-changing rules about how Google, Bing, and Yahoo rank web pages. Unless Web Developers dedicate time to this research, they should not consider themselves SEO experts. 

SEO is not all about tags, keywords, meta-data, or content but also about having a crawlable website, intelligent backlinking, and efficient load times. SEO aspects should be considered from the time you start building your website. As there are millions of websites on the World Wide Web, Search Engine Optimization is required to stand apart from the rest. 

5. Not Optimizing Bandwidth Usage & Processor Consuming Actions in Request Handlers

Developers and testers generally use local network environments. However, users do not restrict themselves to network environments and may try to access heavy web pages with slow internet connections. Web Developers do some basic things by default for optimizing bandwidth usage, which includes minification of all CSS, minification of all JavaScript, image size optimization, resolution, and server-side HTTP compression. 

For example, there is an online bookstore, and you start with a few hundred orders daily. You send a confirmation email each time you receive an order. After some time, you may begin receiving thousands of orders. Sending confirmation emails will result in SMTP connection timeouts or your application response time, as it handles emails instead of users. This mistake should be avoided, and any processor-consuming request should be controlled externally. An external mailing service should be used to receive information about the orders and send emails.

6. Overusing Libraries & Not Following Web Standards

Application with several libraries will increase the bundle size, build, and page loading time. Avoid adding many npm packages to the web application. It would be better to write your own code by allotting a little time instead of using a library. 

Standards need to be followed to ensure that all websites are developed correctly with some standard features. Most developers are self-taught these days and are unaware of the standards. For this, developers must refer to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). 

Other guidelines are related to the use of HTML, wherein semantic elements are needed to structure a web page according to a standard. Developers make the mistake of not sticking to the standards and thus make the websites not accessible.

7. Wrong Input Validation

User input on the client and server sides should always be validated, but mistakes due to improper validation often happen. The most common consequence of this mistake is SQL Injection. 

Front-end development tools provide innovative validation rules that are simple to use. Additionally, major back-end development platforms use simple annotation to ensure submitted data follows the rules. Implementing input validation must be time-consuming but should be part of standard coding practice.

8. Authentication Without Proper Authorization

First of all, let’s differentiate between the two terms, authentication and authorization. 

Authentication: It is about ensuring that the person is a specific user as they have entered their security credentials, including Passwords, Answers to Security Questions, Fingerprint scan, etc.

Authorization: This ensures that a particular user has the right to access a specific section or not. 

Authorization and Authentication are essential and should be considered two sides of the same coin.
 

9. No Portability Planning

When it is about portability, do not assume anything. There are issues in web development, like hardcoded file paths and the assumption that a certain library will be available on the server or database connection strings. It is wrong to assume that the production environment will match your local development computer.

Web Developers should ensure that the application can scale and run on a load-balanced multiple-server environment. There should be a simple and straightforward configuration in a single configuration file. 

10. Not Focussing on Code Formatting & Commenting

The code should always be appropriately formatted, and there should be no unnecessary blank spaces, poor naming conventions, or weird formatting. If these are present, it will take a lot of time to correct the formatting in the end. Such coding is generally done by an inexperienced programmer who has just begun coding. 

Web Developers should learn proper naming conventions of their language and use automatic code formatting tools with their IDE. Along with appropriate formatting, another essential thing to do is insert comments at specific code points. This will help other coders understand your code quickly and will also help you if you want to check your code to find bugs. 

On a Closing Note...

Web Development is a complex task that requires the collaboration of several teams. Committing the abovementioned mistakes will only increase the time needed to launch a website. Most of these mistakes are made by new developers who learn with time. 

Websites are informative & marketing tools, and they represent your company as well as your brand. Web Developers should adhere to best practices during development as they directly impact the leads and business generation. 

Thanks for your time and your Web Development needs. You can visit Goodtal.