Debunking 5 Common Website Development Myths
Some jobs sound so simple and easy that they will only take 5 minutes to complete, isn’t it? When we are talking about custom web development services and working with the code is often far from that, and stay alert that says otherwise.
The thought that it only takes 5 minutes to add or modify lines of codes is a myth immortalized by television series and movies. We are pretty sure that you must have seen those scenes where the protagonists find themselves in an end-of-the-world situation; then all thanks to stereotypical tech-savvy characters, they manage to quickly hack into a secured government network. A quickly typed code and voila, the world is saved.
Being a Custom web development company, this makes us cringe! Hopefully, we have never found ourselves in the position of having to save the world in the next 5 minutes. This is not really a world that that Responsive Web Development Company works within. Still, scenes like this often impact the expectations of common people. In order to understand the Website Design & Development Services, let us consider the case where a single line of code requires changing.
The Movies/Television Series Fantasy
As the movies and television series have hinted, the Custom web development company has the code in front of it, or is just one click away. They immediately know how to resolve and modify the lines of codes causing the troubles. As soon as they click on the save button, the website is updated and everything is good. Just like the TV series and movies, the developer is invincible and therefore has not had to test their code. It just magically works anyway.
Configuring
It is highly unlikely that the developers have the code so readily in hand. For instance, at a Custom web development company, programmers work across various projects. Hence, one of the primary things that they have to do is install a copy of the site on their system before they can start solving the bugs and errors. If they have already worked on the project before, they probably have this bit sorted, but still require to get it opened up ready to work with.
Recreating the error
Secondly, the programmers will ensure that they can recreate an error in their local testing environment with the help of code that they have installed on their computer system. This is a crucial step as it affirms that the developer can have certainty that the bug would be fixed, which they later apply, actually works. Accurate instructions from clients and project managers are proven to be a help there.
Segregating the errors
With an error recreated, the programmers have to look for the particular files and lines where the resolution is needed and applied. Responsive Web Development Company will look at the error logs, execute test cases, and use several testing tools to provide optimum solutions. Here, we are only considering the case of a single line of code that needs to be modified or fixed. Generally, it is the case of multiple lines of multiple files that they have to modify. Locating where modification is to be made may seem simple, but more often, developers will have to spare some time to understand where the bug is actually originating.
Fixing the bug
After successfully locating the origin of the bug, the developer will try to fix it using his/her intellect. Sometimes a fix is evident. The rest of the time, they have to think a little harder. Either way, the developer has to take careful consideration of any knock-on effects caused by the change they are implementing. The website developers will test their solutions on their local system of the website. This often needs extra testing of several aspects of the site in case the solution has distressed something else.
Inspect review
At 8therate, once the programmer is satisfied with their solution, they commit it to a temporary branch of the code, then submit it for peer review. For us, this is a crucial step of the process as it uses the experience of the development team. It offers a chance for other programmers to test the solution and assure there are no other bugs or errors. We often skip the peer review step in case of a simple typo, but code changes need reviewing because sometimes even the best of us make mistakes.
While submitting the solution for peer review, the developer that worked on it gives details of what is being changed and instructions on how to test. Other programmers will test the solution and review whether the code works correctly or not. If they have any questions/suggestions they will raise them with the original developer.
Further testing
Once the solution has successfully passed the peer review, it is deployed to an internal staging server. The developer will give test instructions and then hand this over to the project manager to review. This is final internal testing to assure that the solution meets the clients’ expectations. If everything is good to go on the staging server, the programmer will be asked to upload it to our own server. This is where we invite our clients to test the changes suggested by them.
Final Deployment
Once the client is completely satisfied with all the solutions and changes, our developer will implement the final changes to the live website. Again, the programmer will check everything is working accurately. For eCommerce-like websites, we generally test the checkout process, even if the solution is unrelated to this, to assure everything has negligently broken in the process.
Conclusion
Answer this honestly. Did you feel this whole process was only 5 minutes long? As the legend said, “reality is always different from fantasy.” At 8therate, the experience and knowledge of the team are always bestowed to keep changes to a minimum. Nevertheless, there is a lot more to resolve an error than just writing lines of code. A significant amount of time is spent. There are several stages to fix an error as detailed above. Still, this did not take into account things such as design time, planning, discussing, and estimating the task. All of these come before development can even begin.