Frontend mistakes you don’t want to see in your application

So, you have decided to invest in a web or mobile application for your business. You’ve researched the most popular technologies, you’ve read about how to find the best app development company. You want to actively participate in your solution’s development process and have your finger on the pulse of it.

In this article, we’ll tell you about the most common frontend mistakes that you should be aware of.

Frontend development – What is its main goal?

Frontend developers deal with the so-called client-side of the application. The ultimate goal of this part of development is to create a user-friendly interface, so users can interact with the application easily. Some apps can be accessed through a variety of devices, so the interface and all designs should be responsive to fit different screen sizes. What’s at stake here is UX (user experience). We want our customers to be satisfied and positively surprised by our final product.

Why is close cooperation with a software house crucial during frontend development?

Developers are only human – that is why some mistakes may happen during this process. There is no reason to panic if some challenges occur. The most important thing is to make sure that a company offering front-end development services hires skilled and experienced frontend developers who can spot errors and fix them before the product’s release.

Nowadays, it is already customary that business owners and specialists representing companies participate in the development process. They work closely with consultants, designers, and developers, describing their vision and pointing out potential risks. To succeed, you need to know not only what you want from your application, but also what you don’t want.

Ensuring good user experience – What can go wrong?

Many most common frontend mistakes that irritate users can be easily fixed if spotted in time. Here is a list of them.

Non-responsive web design

Today, multiple applications are made for both web and mobile devices. Unfortunately, some developers don’t build apps with responsive designs. What is the outcome? A user views an app on mobile and sees tiny text which is nearly impossible to read and strangely deployed elements while having to scroll vertically and horizontally to understand what is happening on the screen.

Don’t forget that your product can be used through different browsers as well, and each of them may render pages differently. Fortunately, this is not a big problem anymore as most of the popular browsers are standard-based, but if you decide to target, for example, Internet Explorer, you should test your frontend solutions to make sure that everything is in order.

Flash of unstyled content

Have you ever entered a website and seen weird FOUC – this is when the text elements appear immediately, but they’re not actually in order… The browser’s default styles come before an external CSS stylesheet is loaded – before all data necessary for the proper look of the page is processed. It is a total mess at the beginning, although the page corrects itself soon after retrieving important style information. After a while, a website will present normally but… bad feeling remains, right?

Frontend developers suggest using interesting preloaders – pleasant information or a funny animation that will keep the user occupied until the content is ready. Informing people what is going on will not require much effort and will improve UX.

Bad methods of dealing with long rendering

Site speed is important for users. When it gets slow, they get frustrated. Don’t keep them waiting! Speed depends on various factors – clarity of the JavaScript code, image size, and other elements. There are two things you have to remember. First, test the site, monitor its performance, and optimize it. Second, use an optimistic UI approach instead of a pessimistic UI approach to ensure the best UX. This technique can be used for simple actions of little importance, like commenting or reacting to content with likes or emojis.

Auto-playing audio/video and disturbing elements

We don’t go around with our headphones on all the time, so when some video, ad, or audio starts without us even knowing how to turn it off, we get furious. Don’t do it to your users if you don’t have an important reason. Don’t forget that this is a thin line between a fun animation that your users will love and one they’ll hate.

If you want to add some element to your website, ask yourself first if your users will need it. Remember that you are developing this website or application for them.