Is there such a thing as doing a ‘quick repair’ on a website?
Different business owners/individuals create websites to show their business values, be present online and showcase the products and services they offer. The website can be based on different platforms and structures.
The website is based on different pieces of code. As technology progresses, there are different versions of the code and updates quite often. Overall, those specific pieces of code (or plugins) should be up to date for the website to be fully functional.
If the website is not up to date or the new versions of the code are not well-matched; this can cause different errors on the website.
As a result, some functionalities can be outstanding and not functional due to the programming and version of the website.
Are all website errors/issues visible?
There are errors in the front-end and the back-end of the website. Therefore, not all errors can be visible to the visitor’s eye. Some errors may need to be investigated to find the source of the problem before it can be fixed. The front-end errors may easily be seen by visitors on different sections of the website. However, errors in the back-end will need to be fixed by an advanced user or website developer/designer and may take up some time to recover the issue.
How can errors/issues be noticed?
Not all errors can be noticed by the onlooking eye. Some errors may only be noticed by a website developer or someone on the back-end of the website. These can be small or larger errors/issues that can cause different dysfunctionalities on the website structure. There are different factors that can be the reason for the dysfunctionalities. This includes: poor coding, faulty structure, dysfunctional site map with incorrect or broken links, not up-to-date website design etc.
How can someone understand errors/issues on the website?
Depending on the users or individuals experience, they can determine and understand the errors on the website. The steps to understand where the errors are located is to follow the debug process where one by one steps are executed. Each functionality is tested by debugging in smaller, unique steps to see if they are functional. If it is not functional, different steps will take place to fix the error and the testing process will start from the beginning. This will be repeated until the feature is up to a high standard and fully functional.
What type of errors/issues can occur on the front end and back end of the website?
The front end and back end represent the website overall. The front end of the website contains any features related to the interfaces and the layout of the website.
Examples of errors that are related to the different website dis-functionalities can be listed as following:
- A button: if someone clicks on it and it is not linked or not active
- Problems on different sections such as the background colour or letters colour are not visible as they are the same colour as the title
- The colour and font of the letters can be blurry
- The sections can be too close to each other and do not represent a professional website
- Images have poor resolution and need to be processed, this shows poor quality on the website etc.
For individuals to complete changes on the front end, it can be frustrating as different pieces of code require sufficient knowledge of programming and further time to implement and test to finalise the process. The layout style of the website can be programmed in different versions based on the CSS settings. For example, by implementing settings on CSS, we can program: the style of the button, the text font on the button, the colour, the size, the position of the button on the webpage etc.
Back end error issues are errors related to the code on each functionality on the webpage. Most of the time, it is custom coded work that is more advanced so the knowledge requires higher and more developed skills to implement the task. There are platforms (such as WordPress etc.) that give the opportunity to the user to add built- in functions for their website structure just by using an editor to manage their website in a simple way. Different functionalities such as adding a title or an image etc. can be implemented just by clicking a button and selecting the specific functionality that the user would like to add to their website layout.
Other problems on the front end and back end of the website can include the presentation and layout being incompatible with other devices such as: mobile, tablet, laptop etc. As the operating system has different versions on different devices, this can display the website structure and resolution in different ways. Also, different devices on different brands can show different website layouts.
Some other types of errors that can cause problems and reduce the productivity on the website are as following:
- Logical errors – no logic or mentality on the steps of a specific procedure
- Functional errors – the user needs to follow the steps but the functionality is not programmed correctly. E.g, buttons that are not programmed or coded correctly to execute the action that is supposed to take place.
- Syntax errors – content on the website that is not written correctly and there are errors on sentences or words
- Cache errors – errors related to cache issues, etc.
Overall, the steps required from the user to follow on different functionalities should respect and follow a logical flow and secure the process to be finalized.
Is there a ‘quick repair’ on errors?
There is never a straight ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer to this question as it depends on many factors regarding the specific problem/s, structure, functions and visual errors that are on the website.
