Tuesday, November 24, 2009

What You Should Know About Website Repair

By Frank Sanders

Website repair is a form of maintenance applied to existing websites. The work involves fixing malfunctions, code errors and updating the website. A website consists of the user interface, admin and databse. A website that does meet modern standards is likely to have many errors. Changes to images and content may also be needed.

Database driven websites require a lot of attention. Changes to the database are needed from time to time. Maintaining a database can take most of your time. A person with programming knowledge may find it easy. However, if you are not a programming professional, you must find a coder to do it for you. Yesteryear's websites require a lot of manual operations and maintenance. Modern websites are equipped with maintenance systems that can be used by a person. Even if you are not a programmer, you can use these tools. Content Management Systems (CMS) are designed to be used by people with no programming skills. Image and content updates can be made from the website admin. You can make changes without writing a single line of code. The easiest systems use the drag and drop functions for putting new elements or adjusting existing elements. Backing up is also a no-brainer. There are many ways of backing up website data.

Image resizing is a form of maintenance that is used for websites. Advanced websites have automated systems that can resize images without hassles and trouble of going to a photoshop. Traditional image resizing involves downloading images, fixing them on Photoshop and uploading them to the server.

Updating your website content cannot be over-emphasized. You need fresh content on a regular basis to attract visitors to your site. If the content on your website is stagnant, your website may as well be considered damaged. You can create your own content on a daily or weekly basis. If you do not have writing skills, you can hire a part-time writer to do the work for you. Use of SEO articles will drive your website up the rankings and many people will find your website on search engines.

A website that lags behind in technology will give errors when visitors attempt to browse through. Today's internet has an option of choosing between many browsers. Browsers are regularly updated. It is no surprise to weekly updates being made on browsers. If you have a website, are you managing to keep up with browser technology? Informed website owners will take into this account when designing a website. Even if you are loyal to one type of browser, you will need to make certain make certain changes when a new version has been released. Some websites are known to function on certain versions. They may function on old versions but not on current versions. Imagine the number of visitors you may lose by sticking to one browser.

If your website has an event calendar, the calendar requires updating on a regular basis. There are websites with inbuilt software that can update calendar events, just by changing the content from the CMS interface. Dates and events must be added to the website as soon as possible. Advance updates should be sent to visitors. Calendar event monitoring works best for websites owned by town councils, artists, performers, art galleries, charity organizations, clubs, concert organizers and government.

Images and slow internet connection are usually the cause of slow loading. Sometimes, you may realize that your internet connection is fast and your website does not contain a lot of images. The cause of slow loading in this case, may be poor coding in your website. Code optimization is a method of fixing your website code so that fast loading can be achieved.

Another reason for slow loading is traffic. Increase in traffic caused by many visitors visiting the same page at the same time, may slow down your website. You must have contingency measures for accommodating an increase in traffic.

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