Most people judge a website’s quality based on how it looks. While the look of a site is important, you must also be concerned with the code behind the site that functions as the framework of the site. After all, a flashy car is just a lawn ornament without a running engine.
So how do you determine if the programming in your site is bad? In order to analyze a site there are a few important questions to ask:
1) Does this site do what I want?
If you are running an online store and your customers can’t buy anything or find their products it is clear you have a problem. If your content management system requires a PhD to make simple text changes, you have a problem. A site should function in a way that makes logical sense to you and even more importantly can be used by your average user.
2) How quick is a “quick” update?
When you are looking to have your site updated and a developer is coming back to you with a legitimate estimate far beyond what you expected, you have a problem. While you may be concerned that you may be dealing with a suspect developer, sometimes the estimate is legitamate because the site was poorly developed. On the surface it may be a “quick” fix but when you get your hands in there you may have spaghetti code that is difficult to decipher. Personally, I have worked on sites before that had a horrible code base what would normally have taken 30 minutes to an hour can easily balloon to 2 or 3 hours. If you are spending more money on your updates because you don’t want to spend time to get your code reworked, you are just putting a band-aid on a broken leg.
While ignoring bad code may seem cheaper initially, it can cost you more over the life of your site
3) Is your site safe?
Few things can hurt traffic to your site more than the security warning displayed when a site is labeled as an “attack” site. If your site has vulnerabilities sooner or later someone will exploit your site. One might say “my site is only getting 20-30 hits a day who would target me?” I have seen all types of sites get hit with viruses. But even worse, if your secured data is really not secure and it is found that your site housed sensitive data that was stolen, you are liable. In some cases, you can be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. For example, if you have been storing or transferring credit card information without taking the necessary steps to secure the data and you get hacked, you can be held responsible for every dollar that was lost. A good code base plugs all the holes of a site and ensures any possible hacks do not compromise sensitive data.
Use these 3 questions as a starting point when determining if you have a bad code base. Your site may be beautiful on the surface, but making sure it is beautiful inside is just as important. As they say, don’t judge a book by it’s cover.
