Web development is what makes a website functional and is not just about making it look good. Good quality web development will make the website stand out from competitors and attract more business. It is important that the best web development processes are used to maintain the site. If your website isn’t developed and maintained properly it could have a negative impact on the business.
Below are the top ten tips on how to ensure the best quality Web Development:
- It is important to know your web developer in detail including their credentials and skill set. Make sure they have worked on similar projects using similar programmes before. Also make sure they have used the languages, systems and CMS systems before that you require for your web build.
- Hire a web developer or web development team who can be involved from the beginning and have a commercial outlook. They can then add value and make suggestions rather than just taking a brief. Their input on how something may work better is invaluable.
- Make sure your web developer is building the website on the right platform for you for many reasons. One that it is easy for you to maintain and update. Also that it can accommodate all your requirements - whether that is ecommerce or other integrations.
- Remember the long term effects of web development and that your website is not just for today. Therefore future proofing the site is important and making sure that your systems /languages is up to date and commonly utilised. For example - Is the site mobile responsive? The designer will have a strong input into this at the front end however the Web Developer will also need to be aware of this.
- Back up – is there a plug-in or a way that you can access and back up all your files?
- Websites should adhere to common web standards . Web standards are rules and guidelines established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) developed to promote consistency in the design code which makes up a web page. Without getting technical, simply it's the guideline for the mark-up language. This maybe more for a front end designer but your development team will be able check any front end code and ensure any web development work similarly adheres to this.
- Google looks at various factors when determining search engine rankings. Some of the aspects that may be affected by the work of a web developer include the speed of a site and page errors (and bounce rates) so this is another important consideration.
- Quality development should include rigorous testing etc. A developer should always test their development work and processes prior to handing development work back.
- Security is a fundamental issue so implementing third party software or tools need to be very secure and you must ensure that external parties cannot access your files. Passwords should be set up with that in mind and SSL pages used where applicable.
- Dependant on the size of your business, for contingency purposes there should also be documentation of what has been done and how everything interacts so that other web developers could pick up the files and work with the site where required in the future.
Web design is the front end – however if you have a website that is more than text pages –i.e. Ecommerce, SQL, CMS driven, it is important that it is all coded together effectively.
Anthony Sherick, Director of IT jobsite Technojobs believes that “quality of web development is very much dependant on the hiring the right person. Ideally a web developer should be involved at the outset of your project and as such can add great value. Note that different web developers have different strengths – a ‘Web Developer’ is not one size fits all. So you need to use a web developer who is familiar in the skills that you need to build your site such as the right language, CMS system or ecommerce software”.
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