If applications and sites are done correctly, they can last decades. Here are a few things to consider when planning a new site or application that you want to last.
We’ve talked about website and web application longevity before although the main focus has been on technical quality including security, privacy, speed, and usability with longevity as a side note. There’s no need to renew your online assets every few years unless you really really want to.
There are of course things you will want to take into account already at the planning phase of your app to ensure years or even decades of faithful service.
Visual Aging
Web design like everything else, has trends that come and go. A long time ago…
… hot designs were in frames and later in tables. We had <blink>BLINK!</blink> to give a bit of pizzazz to a site. Javascript was a nifty way to add weird effects to your site and things following your mouse. Those things are way behind us now though.
Later we had, 3d shadows, (I’ve blocked out the whole flash thing), flat UI design, video backgrounds, slideshow hero areas, and now finally, some more sensible approaches!
Clean, simple, and usable design never goes out of fashion.
The trend for a few years now has been minimalistic. The mobile revolution is mainly behind this but there’s also a trend towards sustainable websites and making sites and apps load as quickly as possible. This also means they use less electricity to serve (overall) and so are more ecological also.
People care more about accessibility especially larger municipal or educational sites. Simpler sites and clean design means contrast is usually optimised and content flows naturally and semantically.
Usability has also improved as designers have had to pare down what they show to only the more crucial elements and hide the rest.
Do’s and Dont’s
The following list will ensure your site design can be refreshed or tweaked in the future as trends change and browsers update.
- Make sure your site or application doesn’t use any gimmicky design. They will age faster than milk on a hot day (looking at you, video backgrounds!).
- Check that it’s properly responsive and works on devices and screens of all sizes and types. Who knows what kind of devices we will have in a few years? Properly responsive means a minimum of browser-specific or device-specific code (ideally none!).
- Your dev should separate visual styles from functionality (usually through themes, child themes, or at least CSS and no inline styles). This makes it easier for future devs to tweak and update the style without changing core functionality.
- As a dev, it’s tempting to play around with new frameworks whether CSS, JS, or other. These add another layer of complexity to a theme or plugin. They often break with updates, or just downright die as they don’t get enough users adopting or willing to pay for it. Relying on any third-party software is a tricky business. Vanilla coding and an absolute minimum of dependencies are best for security, speed, usability, and longevity.
Code Aging
Code goes out of date just like everything else. PHP versions, CSS, and Javascript support in browsers, even HTML has had an iteration or two.
Checking the Console
Taking a look at your browser’s console (instructions here) you can learn a lot about a website including old libraries in use, depreciations, broken code, what cookies are being saved, and often security holes and data leakage that you didn’t know was there.
By keeping an eye on the console of your site as you browse around, you can collect errors or warnings that can be passed to your dev. Keeping on top of those and making sure your site is updated (small and frequent is the key), can ensure that your site code will stay compatible for longer.
Theme Code
It’s a good idea to get your dev to check your site’s custom theme about once a year and make sure it’s working properly including PHP versions, jQuery, and with the latest WordPress version.
Ready-made themes (assuming you picked one that’s bulletproof) should already be rolling out updates frequently so they get updated alongside the rest of the plugins.
Functionality
Keep an eye on your forms and important functionality. Test it often and be sure to check these pointers on how to avoid broken sites.
Maintenance
We’re sorry to harp on about it, but good maintenance really is key to keeping your site secure, fast, and working.
A regular maintenance schedule and knowledgeable technical support will keep sites alive for much longer than they’d usually last in regular hosting.
We have kept sites up and running for decades, although admittedly it might have been kinder to let some of them go. However we know that customers don’t always have the budget for a complete renovation, so we do our best to maintain and advise.
In Conclusion
Hopefully, this has given you and your dev a few pointers on future-proofing your application or website. Contact us if you’d like more help or have any questions about the article.
