Finding and Solving Website Issues

#website#issues#monitoring#audit#performance#ux#project

Making the web better, one issue at a time

As a web developer, one of the most important tasks is to ensure that the websites we create are functioning properly and providing a good user experience. This involves regularly checking for issues and addressing them promptly. In this post, we'll explore some common types of website issues, how to find them, and tools that can help you monitor and solve these problems.

A few years ago I was working on a project where we had to migrate a large website with thousands of pages. The website had been around for a long time and had a lot of content. During the migration we discovered that there were many issues with the website that we had to fix. Some of the issues were:

  • 404 links
  • Redirect chains
  • Missing alt texts
  • Giant images
  • Slow loading times
  • Broken links
  • SEO issues
  • UX issues
  • Performance issues
  • Accessibility issues
  • Security issues
  • And more...

We had to fix all these issues before we could launch the new website. This was a time-consuming and tedious task. We had to manually check each page for issues. This took a lot of time and we still missed some issues. We needed a better way to find all the issues on the website.

One tool to find them all

This project aims to provide a complete solution to finding, prioritizing and help solving website issues. Before diving into the details, here are some common types of website issues you might encounter:

  1. Performance Issues: Slow loading times, unresponsive pages, and high bounce rates can all indicate performance problems.
  2. SEO Issues: Poor search engine rankings, broken links, and missing meta tags can affect a site's visibility.
  3. Accessibility Issues: Websites that are not accessible to all users, including those with disabilities, can lead to a poor user experience.
  4. Security Issues: Vulnerabilities such as outdated software, weak passwords, and lack of HTTPS can compromise a site's security.
  5. Content Issues: Outdated or incorrect information, spelling errors, and broken images can detract from the credibility of a website.
  6. UX Issues: Poor navigation, confusing layouts, and lack of mobile responsiveness can frustrate users.

Having worked on websites and web applications since the early 2000s, I've learned a lot about the handling of these issues. It's become clear to me that most websites have a lot of issues without the owners even being aware of them.

  • Awareness is the first step to improvement.
  • Regular audits can help identify and prioritize issues.
  • Suggesting clear solutions will increase the chances of issues being resolved. For instance, suggesting a better page title or headline can make a big difference.

Meet checker.so - the single tool needed to find, prioritize and solve website issues.

I believe strongly in that a to the point tool that has the ability to find all types of issues, monitor them and making sure they are checked of as "done" will help many website owners and thereby create a better web.

AI is here - let's just face it - however the need to differentiate in the way we present information will remain. AI need to get its information from somewhere, still.

I've identified a number of competitors in this space, and its quite crowded. However, none of them are complete and most are either too technical or too shallow while also expensive.

Some of checker.so competitors

  1. Google Search Console: A free tool that helps you monitor your site's presence in Google search results and identify SEO issues.
  2. Lighthouse: An open-source, automated tool for improving the quality of web pages. It can audit performance, accessibility, SEO, and more.
  3. GTmetrix: A tool that analyzes your website's speed and provides recommendations for improvement.
  4. Screaming Frog SEO Spider: A website crawler that helps you find broken links, analyze page titles and metadata, and identify duplicate content.
  5. WAVE: A web accessibility evaluation tool that helps you identify accessibility issues on your site.
  6. Content Management System (CMS) Plugins: Many CMS platforms offer plugins that can help you identify and fix various website issues.
  7. User Testing: Conducting user testing sessions can help you identify UX issues that may not be apparent through automated tools.

How "webmasters", stakeholders and website owners work today

The process is quite cumbersome for many. And in most cases, website owners aren't even aware of the issues on their site.

  1. Identify the Issue: Use the tools mentioned above to regularly audit your website and identify any issues.
  2. Prioritize Issues: Not all issues are created equal. Prioritize them based on their impact on user experience and business goals.
  3. Get them into the kanban board: Develop a plan to address the issues, including timelines and responsibilities.
  4. Implement Solutions: Work on fixing the issues, whether it's optimizing images, updating content, or improving site navigation.
  5. Test Changes: After implementing changes, test your website to ensure that the issues have been resolved and that no new issues have been introduced.
  6. Monitor Regularly: Make website audits a regular part of your maintenance routine to catch and address issues early.
  7. Gather Feedback: Encourage users to provide feedback on their experience and use this information to identify potential issues.
  8. Stay Updated: Keep up with the latest web development trends and best practices to ensure your website remains in good shape.

I hope that checker.so will be able to remove some of the steps in this process, so that website owners can simply focus on the single step of getting the issues into the kanban board. And in the future, checker.so will simply solve some of the issues for you automatically.

Stay tuned for more updates on this project as it develops. Together, we can make the web a better place, one issue at a time.