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Not all permissions to accept the website for testing, so it happens that the website is created, it looks good on the boss's computer, works well, it is paid to the developer, and et it takes some time and it turns out that the website looks like on a colleague's computer quite differently than intended. Over time, the problem is fixed, but then comparing your website with competitors' websites, you notice that it lacks some features. And even later, when thinking about the development of a website, it often turns out that the page has to be quite radically redesigned, which could be avoided if the developers of the page were asked for some rather self-evident things at the very beginning.
We've had a case of advising a company manager on the development of a company's website, and we had to say, "You know, you have to admit that your website is a pretty big halt, even though it looks good externally and visually." The manager interviewed us and finally called one of his subordinates who was in charge of IT and the website and asked, "How did it happen that we paid so much money for the website, but now tell me she is of poor quality?" The man got upset, started talking about the fact that then he didn't know much yet, relying on the fact that the website developer was quite a well-known company. We try to defend him: "In fact, at least 95% of websites in the Latvian Internet environment are at least as low quality." To which the boss replied, “We don't have to be like everyone else. We have to be the best. ” Together, many website problems have been solved (or circumvented), and this company is now, in my opinion, also the best in its field in the Internet environment, but this company could save quite a lot of resources if asking a competent person for a website.
Anyway, below are some suggestions that anyone can follow (or ask their IT and webmaster to check) to have at least some assurance that the newly created website is not compromised by the developers.
Check the page for compliance with W3C standards
First, the website must meet one of the standards set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). This will increase the chances that your website will display equally well in your web browser and on other browsers, mobile devices, and browsers that will be released in the future. Compliance with W3C standards also guarantees that search engines (such as Google.lv or Yandex.ru) will have no problem indexing the content of the page so that you also get visitors from search engines.The W3C Markup Validation Service
You can check whether the page meets the standards quite easily - open the link http://validator.w3.org, where you enter your website address and click "Check". If the result is "Passed", then everything is fine - the page complies with one of the W3C standards.Result: Passed
In fact, there are quite a few W3C standards by which websites can be built, but if a page meets at least one of the standards, it means that the page developers have not mastered it. Otherwise, throw the page back to the developers for correction as long as it meets at least some standard. So don't think you're bare-handed.
It should not be forgotten that checking for W3C standards requires not only the home page, but as many pages from your website as possible, because often the home page has a completely unique layout compared to other pages.
By the way, by checking the websites of the website developers themselves against the W3C standards, you can quite easily weed out those who do not pay attention to the generally accepted standards, which could be one of the factors when choosing a company to design and service your website.
Check what the page looks like in other browsers
The next step would be to check how the page looks in other browsers (not just on the boss's huge monitor). Theoretically, if a page meets the W3C standards mentioned above, then it should look the same on all popular browsers, as they should also support W3C standards. Unfortunately, each browser sometimes interprets these standards differently, so you need to check "in nature" how the page is displayed on other browsers.
This can be done quite easily using the free service offered by BrowserShots.org. We open BrowserShots.org, enter the address of our website and mark all the browsers we want to test our website on. We click "Submit" and wait for the results - screenshots of how the website looks in different browsers.
Of course, the website should look identical at least on the most popular browsers - Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera, Apple Safari…
Don't forget to check not only the appearance of the home page, but also the appearance of other sections of your website.
Canonization of a domain name
This point is more like a website developer's examination of the attitude toward his work or attention to detail.
domain.lv Open your website by typing its address in the browser as domain.lv (without "www" at the beginning), and then open your website by typing its address with "www" at the beginning - www.domain.lv In both cases, the result should open to the same address (with or without "www" at the beginning - usually the customer chooses the option they prefer). It's like a trifle, but it's very important for search engines. Therefore, if in both cases the same address does not open, consult the developer which option (domain.lv or www.domain.lv) is more desirable for you, and ask the developer to automatically redirect from the other option to the desired one (which often called canonical).
User-friendly web addresses
How simple are the addresses of the different pages of your website? How easy are they to read, for example, over the phone? How much do they say about their content? Make sure the addresses are similar to the following:
http://www.domens.lv/lv/kontakti Not for this: www.domens.lv/?content_id=6413&lang=lv
Broken links and link clipping
Check the page for links to non-existent pages.
Make sure your website doesn't have an infinite number of links. Very often, websites with calendars have links to the next month. Click on this link and there is a link again for the next month or week. And so on indefinitely. That is not good at all.
Maybe think about how realistically you need such a link in the distant future (hardly more than 10 years, and you definitely don't need such a link in January 2839), and then ask the developers to remove it. Otherwise, your website will consist of an infinite number of pages, which are quite useless in terms of content.
Logo and its functionality
It is customary for the website logo to be in the upper left corner of the page. There is also a practical reason for this - in order to maintain the branding of the site, the logo must always be visible. And the top left corner of the page is the only corner that will always be visible when minimizing the web browser window.
It is also assumed that clicking on the logo will take you to the homepage of the website.
So make sure the website logo is in the top left corner and clicking on it will take visitors to the home page.
The basics you need to have on every page
Make sure there is a link to the contacts at the very bottom of the page - where it's on almost all pages. Is there a page search? Is the search box at the top of the page, preferably on the right? Is there also a link at the bottom of the page to a page with a representation of your page structure (which should be generated automatically)?
RSS feed and sitemaps
If your page is expected to add and update content (such as a news section) on a regular basis, make sure the page has an automated RSS feed that not only can be used by some users, but can also be used to automatically post new information. messages on your company's twitter or facebook account using services provided by, for example, twitterfeed.com.
Make sure that the page automatically generates XML sitemaps files (according to the standard described by Sitemaps.org) that contain information about the structure of your website used by search engines to get information about your page faster.
Each page has its own unique name
TitlesMake sure each page has its own unique title, not all pages have the same "Company XXX Homepage" title. To maintain brand ownership, page titles are often formed as follows: “Page Topic | homepage (lv) ”, where the“ Page theme ”changes for each page, but“ homepage (lv) ”will help you and others to easily identify your homepage in Google search results.
Give your website to your grandmother and neighbor to test
Have some people test your home with a "I don't understand anything from web pages" test. These are the most likely people to visit your website. Ask them to do a task themselves, such as find some information on the website, and keep quiet about what is causing them trouble, where they click incorrectly that they do not notice. And don't blame these people, "how can you not understand that you have to click here ?!", but think about why they didn't understand it. Maybe the button wasn't visible enough? Maybe the inscription on it was not convincing and self-evident? Is its button just one of the 100 visible items on the home page?
This article looked at only superficial aspects that can be tested by anyone, regardless of the content and functionality of the website. Therefore, if you want to be absolutely sure that you are paying a reasonable fee for what you receive from the website developer, then use the website acceptance testing services, and it is likely that the problems you notice and fix in time will cost you much cheaper than if you recover. go to the website developer to request changes to the website for which an acceptance-transfer deed has already been signed.