Ben ?
The common refrain that has bubbled up in the media recently can be summed up as the following: ‘AI won’t take your job but somebody that knows how to use it will.’ As we are all inundated with discussion around AI, I was compelled to see what this ever smarter ChatGPT had to offer when it comes to future proofing a website. While this a subjective question, it provided some useful ideas for me to contemplate.
My question to ChatGPT:
What are the five best ways to future proof a website?
ChatGPT ?
Future-proofing a website involves anticipating and adapting to technological advancements, changes in user behavior, and evolving web standards. Here are five effective ways to future-proof a website:
- Responsive Design: Ensure your website is built with a responsive design that adapts seamlessly to various screen sizes and devices. With the increasing use of mobile devices, responsive design is crucial for providing a consistent user experience across different platforms.
- Fast Loading Speed: Optimize your website for speed to accommodate users with varying internet connections and browsing devices. Utilize techniques such as image optimization, minification of CSS and JavaScript files, and leveraging browser caching to enhance loading times. As internet speeds improve, users will expect even faster load times.
- SEO Best Practices: Stay updated with search engine optimization (SEO) best practices to maintain visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). Regularly audit and optimize website content, metadata, and structure to ensure it complies with search engine algorithms. As search engine algorithms evolve, staying abreast of changes will help your website remain competitive.
- Accessible Design: Implement accessibility features to make your website usable by individuals with disabilities. Adhering to accessibility standards not only broadens your audience but also ensures compliance with legal requirements and demonstrates a commitment to inclusivity. As accessibility awareness grows, prioritizing this aspect will become increasingly important.
- Scalability and Flexibility: Design your website architecture and infrastructure with scalability and flexibility in mind. Utilize modular, scalable frameworks and cloud-based solutions that can easily accommodate growth and adapt to changing requirements. As your website expands and technology evolves, a scalable and flexible architecture will facilitate smooth transitions and updates.
Ben ?
I would agree that this provides a solid baseline response that all should consider. I would suggest the following commentary on each item:
- Responsive Design: This is the only option to consider for website owners. While several site owners point to user data showing that the majority of their users are logging in on a desktop, delaying migration to a responsive website will result in critical judgment when those users attempt to log in on their mobile devices and find themselves zooming in and scrolling left and right to view basic content (remember those bad old days?). My bet is most won’t even bother trying. User tolerance for non-responsive sites is deteriorating quickly. Further, Google frowns upon it, penalizing search placement for sites in violation. Don’t wait if your site remains fixed width for some non-responsive standard. It will cost you more money to hold steady than to upgrade to a responsive front end… unless you are in gross violation of item 5 below…
- Fast Load Speed: I couldn't agree more with this assessment and its place as #2 on the top 5 list. The reason is simple… again, Mother Google. Since the launch of Google PageSpeed Insights, this measure has been an increased focus. Most people navigate the web on mobile devices with unpredictable connectivity. Therefore, sites would be wise to prioritize fat load times.
- SEO Best Practices: This one makes obvious sense to the extent site owners want visitors. These best practices not only make the site indexable in major search engines but also ensure the site is user-friendly in many other ways. There are clear priorities within this broad topic, but I’ll save that for another blog post.
- Accessible Design: ChatGPT got this one largely right. The only addition I’d make is that awareness and growing legal pressure will also drive this as a growing priority.
- Scalability and Flexibility: This is a topic I have feelings about, and I couldn't agree more with ChatGPT. The CMS/framework technology AND the team of humans behind it are critical to long-term success. I see many people selecting ubiquitous web platforms (WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, and related plugins) not because they provide the best fit, but because they are 'easily' accessible to a wide range of programmers and developers (and there are big differences between those two job functions). It also feels ‘safe’ to recommend a well-known CMS for quick buy-in by decision-makers who are often not fully aware of the inherent risks. Web shops can easily jump on board and off again with media-hyped platforms only to change when key talent leaves, new talent is hired, or market momentum serves them. This can be really bad for website owners as very few tech professionals want to inherit somebody else’s code, open source or not. Furthermore, the fore mentioned platforms are by definition ‘standardized’. When bespoke needs are required, it often leads to custom code that is even more programmer-dependent than many closed-source options. Much of this can be solved by asking hard questions in the initial stages of discovery and strategy. Like most things in life, there are tradeoffs. If you need a basic site for a six month website campaign, perhaps you are not overly concerned about long term CMS commitment and team loyalty. On the other hand, if you are building critical web based infrastructure that needs to evolve with your business over a longer term of years, this is a topic worthy of serious consideration. From there, it takes a little courage to make a bet on the best service provider and CMS/framework combination to align with your needs.