The Pitfalls of Website Design
For those outside the I.T. industry, everything is new and unfamiliar and there are some common pitfalls associated with web site development.
- The first major pitfall is failing to understand what you are buying and paying too much for too little. Once you pay a 50% deposit, it is virtually impossible to get it back without going to legal avenues or pursuing your case at the fair trading office. If your website developer is in a different country, you may not have much hope to recover your money, if things go wrong.
- No attention has been given to title tags, key words, page descriptions and content, meaning the site does not appear for search terms that it should rank well for.
- The website is far from XHTML compliant by w3.org standards, meaning it does not render or work properly in all browsers and operating systems. This also hinders seach engine ranking and usability.
- The web site is hosted on inferior computer equipment and the connection to the Internet is slow. This is another way of cost cutting, and the customer is left with a web site that just doesn't perform like it should or is down for long periods of time.
- The website hosting company is unreliable. Although connection to the internet cannot be 100% guaranteed, website uptimes vary considerably among hosting providers.
- Is the web site compatible to browsers other than Microsoft Internet Explorer. This means that people who use a different browser to access your web site will not be able to read your web site or navigate through it.
- Another pitfall is the emphasis on having flash animation to make your web site stand out. Unless you can afford to change the flash animation on your web site every day, not many of your customers will want to see it again, and some may not even want to see it the first time. Flash animation must be used appropriately. It must convey meaning and be there for a reason. Otherwise it looks tacky and cheap and there are better ways of spending your money. Search engine optimisation for flash websites is more difficult, especially if the site has a flash intro on the index or home page.
- Many people believe that they are purchasing a website and will own the copyright to that site and can move it where ever they please. Generally, this is not the case as the code belongs to the developer and the user is paying for a licence to use rather than property rights. A clear understanding needs to be sought and agreed to (preferably in writing), so both parties understand their respective rights and obligations. Unless otherwise specified, Passion Computing customers receive full non exclusive license to use and modify their website.
- Another pitfall is that website developers do not consider the implications of the website they design. Example. A website that is intended for a community portal will not only require more data traffic and web space, but will ideally need to be hosted on MS SQL and not Access database. The client wants it cheap, so they host it on Access, only to find that when there are too many visitors the system slows down and becomes unusable.The client is not computer literate and they need to be informed of what is and is not plausible and reassess their budget or design based on information supplied by an expert. The client is not the developer and because price is important, shortcuts are taken at the expense of functionality. It is important to find a good developer that will listen to what you require but will also advise on the best way to design and implement that solution and tell you realistically if the amount of work involved is more than what you have budgeted for. Too often, the developer simply implements the client's ideas without highlighting the limitations and problems associated with that solution.
- Passion Computing simply will not implement unsustainable software solutions and we consider the project in a holistic context of computer hardware, software, and risk management.
- Customers do not consider security. Implementing free code on the internet or open source code though cost effective have potential danger, in that the code may be full of spyware, have back door logins that allow information to be stolen and customer information to be compromised. See Open Source Risks