Posts Tagged ‘code bloat’

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When making changes to my website I always take the time to view them live on the web before closing up my editing software and patting myself on the back in self-satisfaction of a job well done. Even with minor changes, I like to view them one last time to make sure my changes didn’t cause any shifts in on-page display, or I didn’t inadvertently create an error somewhere that inadvertently jacked everything up (believe me, it’s happened more times than I can count!) But regardless of how careful I am to double check my work, there is one thing I almost always overlook; verifying that my site looks good in the “other” browser.

At any given time I have three FireFox browser widows open, each with their own number of open tabs. So it’s natural for me to check and verify my changes using my browser of choice. Sometimes, I even think to check my changes in Internet Explorer. Admittedly, I don’t regularly check IE when the changes are relatively minor, but always when the changes effect formatting. But that’s not the other browser I’m referring to.

We get so accustomed to our own way of surfing the web that we forget that there many other browsers and browsing experiences that may be foreign to us. Now most web designers will do their due diligence and check a site in multiple versions of FireFox, Internet Explorer, Netscape and Safari. Heck you might look at a half of dozen other browsers that most people, including myself, have never even heard of. But those are not the browsers I’m referring to either.

There are four primary “other” browsers and browsing experiences that are typically overlooked by site owners, casual webmaster and, yes, even by the average web designer. But with more and more users moving to these alternate browsing experiences, it is even more important to check your websites to make sure that they function properly for these users.

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Yesterday I discussed code bloat by looking at how we can move style sheets and JavaScripts off the page in order to clean the coding up quite a bit. I this third post about cleaning up bloated code I wanted to address Tables and other typical causes of bloated HTML.

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Last Thursday I started a conversation about how code bloat can effect your site’s performance with the search engines. Today I’m going to map some specific types of code bloat and very briefly, and non-technically, show you you can eliminate the bloat to improve your pages performance for both visitors and search engines.

There are generally four things that cause code bloat:

• On-page styling
• On-page JavaScripts
• Excessive table usage
• Poor HTML formatting

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There are a lot of little things that can junk up your code, but, for the most part, the search engines don’t really care. It doesn’t matter to them if your HTML validates or if you keep your code “clean” or not. When it comes to analyzing your pages for search engine rankings, none of that really matters a whole lot. But when it does matter, it matters a whole lot.

Here are some typical coding issues that can screw up your on-page optimization processes:

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Last week, while driving to work I completely lost my way. For about 10 minutes I had no idea how to get here, I was supremely frustrated and I feared that all of society was about to collapse into anarchy. No, I was not drunk.

Before I tell my harrowing story of the road, I want you to think about your website. Honestly, are you doing all you can to ensure usability? Is it enough to have 95% of your links unbroken? 97? 99? Do you just expect people to overlook the occasional link to nowhere, and just find their way?

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Processes and checklists are an important part of my daily routine. I’m a very process oriented individual. Give me a checklist and I get things done. Give me a job without a checklist and I’ll create one. Give me a job that falls outside of the routine or is difficult to put into a checklist and I’m screwed!

I like to create systems for everything that I do and SEO is no exception. While not every aspect of search engine marketing can be programmed, categorized or easily referenced, (I have a mighty team to handle that stuff!) the bulk of the work can at least be outlined into a handy check list. With no further ado, I give you…

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