A web application has evolved from a web page since the introduction of the World Wide Web in 1990. Content that is static is no longer viewed on web pages by end users. The engagement rate of websites has increased due to the addition of dynamic features. In order to assist users with their day-to-day activities such as shopping, banking, paying taxes, etc, interactive websites are being developed. These applications are, however, developed by humans, and mistakes are inevitable. Simple mistakes can impact critical functionality on your website, leading the user to leave your website and go to another one, reducing your profits and ranking on Google.
The purpose of this article is to provide some insight into some of the common mistakes that are made during the different stages of web development. Without further let us get into the article
1. Validation of input is incomplete
The importance of validating user input on both the client and server sides cannot be overstated! However, validation mistakes occur often despite the sage advice "don't trust user input".
SQL Injection is a common consequence of this mistake and is consistently in the OWASP Top 10 every year
Front-end frameworks usually come with simple validation rules that are easy to use out of the box. Each platform uses simple annotations to ensure that data submitted to back-end development platforms adhere to standard rules. Even though validation may take some time, it should be part of your standard coding practice and never overlooked.
2. Utilizing an outdated HTML code
Getting rid of old habits is difficult, as it is said. It was not possible to use the latest Markup options in earlier versions of HTML. Those who have been coding since the early days of coding still use lots of spans and ‘ 's, causing layout issues in modern browsers such as Microsoft Edge. To avoid it take advantage of the latest markup elements like center and font to simplify your work while ensuring clean code. Try to make use of HTML to describe your content and CSS3 to design the layout.
3. Neglecting technical SEO
New developers often neglect Search Engine Optimization (SEO) when developing websites or web applications. The lack of technical SEO knowledge or the lack of development time may be the reason for this. Ignoring it is a big mistake.
Search engines are the most common method of finding websites. As a result, SEO is very valuable to clients. Developers who don't optimize their site for SEO will see their site ranked lower in search engine results, and their clients will be unhappy.
In web development, you should consider SEO from the very beginning, not just at the end. Unless you do this, you may have to rework your code a lot.
4. Testing is not done on major browsers.
The development process is often slowed down by developers testing their programs only on one or two browsers during the process. Developers make this mistake all the time, especially when they are just starting out. Consequences arise from this mistake, including some unpleasant ones.
To avoid unpleasant and problematic surprises, you should test your program in all major browsers. It is important to test your program in major browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, and Internet Explorer 7 (even if you aren't a huge fan of these browsers).
Additionally, you should test out your programs as soon as possible. Testing should not be delayed until the last minute.
5.Developing a website without following responsive design principles
It is common for newbie developers not to consider the responsive design of their web app at the beginning of development. Determining the breakpoints of an application from the start is crucial. It is imperative to determine the breakpoints of different applications at the beginning of the development process, based on the requirements.
A mobile-first strategy is a great way to establish a solid foundation for your business. The design of tablets and desktops will be strengthened as a result of this foundation.
A mobile-first design improves user experience and allows you to maintain focus by removing unnecessary user interface decoration.
6. Bandwidth usage is not optimized
A local network environment is most often used for development and testing. You might not recognize a problem with 1Gbit connection speed in your development environment when you download 5 background images each of which is 3MB or more. But if your users attempt to load a 15MB home page over 3G connections on their smartphones, expect to receive a number of complaints.
If you optimize your bandwidth usage, you could gain a huge performance boost, and you only need a few tricks to do it. One trick to improve optimization is to perform the minification of all JavaScript and CSS files
7. Font fallbacks are not listed
There's no point in using a specific font on your page if it doesn't attract attention or look good. It is always important to remember that not all fonts are supported by every computer.
Even if your design is attractive, it won't be helpful for all users if you are using a font that isn't supported by some browsers.
So to be careful make sure after you use a font of your choice, like Times New Roman, make sure to list fallback fonts in case a browser does not support it.
8. Using libraries too much
The size of the bundle and the build time of your application will increase when your application uses many libraries. As a result, loading times will eventually increase as well. Therefore, you should be careful about adding too many npm packages to your web application. Libraries should be avoided if you can write your own code in a short amount of time to accomplish what the library can do
Make sure you know when a library was last committed and how many GitHub stars it has. An unmaintained library can pose a serious security risk to your application. There may be a need for you to switch libraries or find a different solution.
The majority of libraries make life easier for developers, but they can sometimes complicate things as well, so choose wisely.
9. A lack of focus on web standards.
Developers can use web standards to create device-independent apps or to unify code. There are many developers who are annoyed by following these standards because they think that they will make their work more difficult. The statement is simply not true. In fact, they are there to help you rather than complicate your life.
Often, developers fail to understand these web standards and use outdated DOCTYPES or HTML that is no longer appropriate.
For you to avoid such mistakes, you need to follow the web standards and create error-free, clean code by following them.
10. Writing Code without formatting or comments
A JavaScript code line that lacks indentation has useless newlines, and poor naming conventions is likely to have been written by a newbie developer. Because experienced developers know how much of a headache it is to look at poorly formatted code, they would never do that.
Make sure the names of functions and variables are spelled correctly and use an automatic code formatting tool in your IDE.
An experienced developer's best practice, which is ignored by newbies, is to leave meaningful comments in the code. By adding comments to your code, you will be able to understand it easily in the future, whether it's from other developers or just yourself. Comments can be used to describe variables, functions, class names, and what your code does at a high level.
It will also be easier for you to find bugs in your code if you follow proper formatting and commenting practices.
Conclusion
The term web development covers a wide range of activities, including the development of websites, web services, and complex web applications.
Throughout this article, we have discussed the 10 most common mistakes newbie developers make. Making sure you avoid these mistakes will make you a more efficient developer and will enable you to build better applications. It is my hope that this article will assist you in avoiding these mistakes in the future.
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Thanks for Reading 😊
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