10 Common Errors To Avoid When Developing Your Website

HTML Best Practices for Newbies

Being an IT instructor I”ve seen many common errors that web developers make when coding HTML. I”ve decided to compile a list of 10 common errors to avoid to help those new developers when writing HTML.

1. Always close your tags – By today”s standards not closing tags is bad practice and will lead to validation errors and glitches at every turn.

2. Declare the correct DocType – The DocType goes before the opening HTML tag at the top of the page and tells the browser whether the page contains HTML, XHTML, or a mix of both, so that it can correctly interpret the markup.

3. Never use Inline styles – When creating your markup, don”t even think about the styling yet.

4. Place all external CSS links within the head tag – Technically you can place these links anywhere in your markup but your page will seemingly load faster if they are found in the head.

5. Consider placing Javascript files at the bottom – When loading a script, the browser can”t continue until the entire file is loaded. Thus, the user has to wait longer before noticing any progress.

6. Validate Continuously – Validation is there to help you. More often than not its your shabby markup that”s causing that strange white space issue. Validate, Validate, Validate!

7. Download and use Firebug – I can”t recommend this one enough. Firebug is, without a doubt, the best plug in you”ll use when creating websites.

8. Download ySlow – This tool will analyze the given website and return a “report card” which details the areas where your site needs improvement.

9. Look at other websites – Can”t figure out why your design looks so bad? Lets face it, none of us re-invent the wheel when creating our websites. Visit other sites, see what you like, and make it your own.

10. Image backgrounds scream “Amateur” – Quick, can you name a single professional, respected site that uses image backgrounds? Not Google, Yahoo, eBay, Amazon, the New York Times, or any others.