Every webmaster needs to have a working knowledge of website development and have an idea of how things work on the backend. While it is certainly possible to build a web application without knowing any HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other Web-programming languages, it’s much easier to manage a whole web presence if you know what each part does and why it’s there.
Unfortunately, the term “web development” can mean so many different things that webmasters who are new to the Internet can easily get confused. Web development means many different things, depending on the kind of project, the language used, and who is doing the development. The best way to learn is through trial and error, but here are some common problems that you may run into while trying to create a professional website.
1. Too many Flash and Java scripts
Even if you start out writing HTML and using CSS to build a website, you may end up doing a large number of Flash or Java scripts to make your site work better.
If you are writing Flash, and you are getting an error message that reads “Missing Plug-in or Plug-in does not support the action you requested”, make sure you are including the plug-in and that you have the right version for your browser. You can also check the browser plug-in page to see if it lists the Flash for your particular browser. If it doesn’t, you may have to use a different browser that supports that plug-in.
The same problem can apply for Java scripts. Make sure you have the latest versions of Java installed on your computer, and your server may be mis-configured and not supporting the latest versions of Java that you are using.
2. Missing or incorrectly named images
Make sure all images on the website are named correctly and are in the proper location. For example, images that you upload to the server should always be named with their full path, including the name of the site and the folder they are in. You should also make sure all images have the correct type, such as jpeg, png, and gif, or at least use the jpeg format.
You should also make sure that all images you use are in a format that is supported by the browsers you are using. If you are using JPG format, make sure you use a format that supports transparency. If you have multiple files and you want to use an image from multiple files, make sure that the file name is not too long. For example, don’t put “.jpg” at the end, because that tells browsers to look for the file in the root folder.
3. Missing images from the wrong place
Make sure that you only load images into your website that are in the correct place. If you are using a HTML editor to code your website, you can go to the image manager and drag the image into the HTML editor. When you do this, it will make sure the image is uploaded properly to the server and will be made available for you to use. This way, you don’t have to use the drag and drop method to drag files onto your web page, and you don’t have to have the right path in your code to make sure the image is loaded. If you are uploading images by FTP, you should be able to drag and drop the files into the upload folder.
4. Missing or incorrect links
If you are creating web pages by hand, it’s likely that you are using links on those pages to go to other pages on the web. For example, if you are writing a website for the first time and you have a page called about.html, you would make sure the following is in the file:
When you do this, the page about.html will link to the website and will point to a URL that is the web address of the website. Make sure you write the URL correctly so that it points to the website that you want to be in front of all the other pages you create.
It’s also a good idea to make sure that when you visit the website, that you only go to the pages you want to be in front of. If you type in a URL that is missing a page, you may end up on a page that was left over from when the website was built and that you weren’t supposed to go to. This may look like something is going on and could be a bad thing, but it’s really only good for the developer of the website. They can tell what page you visited by what URL you typed in, and they can see if you were able to get to the page you were supposed to be able to go to.
5. Poor website organization
Make sure you understand how to create websites that are organized properly