Website Accessibility
Accessibility is an important issue that can produce damaging repercussions when overlooked. It is a challenge that Web Developers must strive to meet, so that each page built is accessible to every visitor. Website accessibility is a legally complicated issue because it varies from one country to another. Following these best practices will most likely help a developer come out with good results.
Evolving Security Threats
Security can be a concerning topic for the modern developer as hackers are constantly finding new and more sophisticated exploits. Keeping up with these security issues can be pretty exhausting. Its important to make sure that data sensitive sites are monitored on a pretty consistent basis. It’s also good to make sure that the site and its plugins stay updated as well as its core files.
Performance
Performance, as with usability, is also something Web Developers have to constantly keep in mind. Every action we take during development has the potential to impact the performance of the finished site. Images are a particular area that should never be overlooked. Large image files impact website performance immensely. Using large image files in the early development stage; even just for testing purposes can come back to haunt later. Its a good idea to make sure that all the images used for a site are compressed and optimized for web use. Also, using CDN’s (Content delivery network’s) can help limit the number of resources used on the server, when not using CDN’s its a good idea to keep all external JavaScript and CSS files minified. Another performance tool to consider when developing a website is the utilization of browser caching. All in all, it can be a time consuming task to make sure all of these things are considered and tested, however it is important to have well performing websites for usability, as well as SEO (search engine optimization).
Certainly, web developers aren’t just creating a pretty looking website. The modern developer must think of things like security, accessibility, and performance measures just to name a few. Luckily, most developers strive to be up to date with the ever-changing field of technology.
