Top 7 Web Development Practices you NEED to know

Written by Shaun de Burgh
on 29 Apr 2020

Executing a website build is anything but simple.

If you want to build a fast, reliable, and understandable website that converts well, it’s all about understanding the correct steps to take throughout the entire web development process.

With these top web development practices handy, you’ll be well on your way to beautiful website creation in no time at all.

Responsiveness

Your website should display correctly on all devices (including mobiles, tablets and desktops). A user’s experience should be similar across all screen sizes.

Helpful Hint: Responsiveness is one of the ranking criteria Google uses when ranking websites.

Performance

Page load times and performance is critical.

A user won’t want to ‘stick around’ on a slow and unresponsive website. Consider this; would you stay on a slow website, or click out completely and maybe even visit a competitors better-performing page?

Faster websites generally lead to higher conversion rates. With page speed now also one of Google’s ranking criteria, this is crucial to the success of a website.

Keep it simple

Complicated websites are not only harder to build, maintain and modify; they also have a lower conversion rate. Why? They can confuse and turn users away.

When building a website, keeping the design and layout simple is best.

Write understandable, clear code

The way code is written can have a significant impact on how long a website takes to build, its future modifiability, and ease of maintenance. For this reason, you should always follow proper coding conventions. These include maximising code reuse, following clear naming conventions and keeping code as readable and straightforward as possible.

Follow web design standards

Most websites follow some basic design guidelines, and users have become accustomed to using most websites in the same way. Going outside these guidelines can confuse and turn users away.

For example, all links should be clearly visible throughout the website.

Helpful Hint: Company logos generally appear in the top left corner of each page’s header, and when clicked link back to the website homepage.

Don’t reinvent the wheel

When building a website, consider whether there are any platforms or frameworks (such as WordPress or Bootstrap) that you can use to reduce development time and create higher-quality websites.

Future-proof the website

All websites should be future-proofed. It’s essential to build a website in a way that considers future modifiability of the site and the ease of making these changes. This helps extend the lifespan of a website.

With these nifty tricks up your sleeve throughout the entire design and web development process, your website can impress, convert, and of course, be far more successful.

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