What makes a website developer tick? We recently sat down with the lead Web Developer at Shout It Out Design, Sheeba Asad, to learn more about her role and responsibilities as a vital member of our team. We discussed everything from accessibility to version control and more:
Question: To start, can you tell us what inspired you to pursue a career in website development?
Sheeba Asad: Certainly! I initially started as an intern in this industry and quickly fell in love with web development. The experience of being a junior developer and seeing the impact of my work inspired me to pursue it professionally.
I enjoy the constant challenge of learning something new every day and creating digital solutions that help businesses establish their online presence. Website development is a dynamic field that allows me to blend my technical skills with creativity to build functional and user-friendly websites.
Q: That’s a fantastic journey. Can you explain how you approach the initial planning and design phase of a website development project?
SA: Of course. In the initial planning and design phase, I follow a structured process. I start by gathering all the necessary information about the client’s goals, target audience, and desired features for the website. This helps me understand the project requirements and make informed decisions.
Next, I create wireframes or mockups to visualize the layout and structure of the website. This step allows me to work closely with the client, ensuring we’re on the same page before moving forward.
Once the wireframes are approved, I dive into designing the actual user interface and visual elements of the website. This involves selecting colors, fonts, and images that align with the client’s brand and overall aesthetic. Throughout this phase, I also consider critical factors like user experience, accessibility, and responsive design to create a website that’s easy to navigate, visually appealing, and functions well on various devices and screen sizes.
Overall, my approach combines thorough research, effective communication with the client, and meticulous attention to detail to ensure a successful website development project.
Q: It sounds like a comprehensive approach. Can you describe a challenging problem you encountered in a past project and how you solved it?
SA: Certainly. In a past project, I faced a significant challenge with optimizing website load times. The client’s website had many high-resolution images that caused substantial delays in page loading. To address this issue, I implemented several strategies.
Firstly, I made sure to compress and optimize the images to reduce their file sizes without compromising quality. This greatly improved the website’s loading speed. Additionally, I employed lazy loading techniques, ensuring that images loaded only when they were visible within the user’s viewport. This helped reduce the initial load time by prioritizing essential content.
Furthermore, I utilized content delivery networks (CDNs) to distribute the website’s static assets, like images, across multiple servers globally. This ensured that users could access the website quickly, regardless of their location.
Finally, I regularly conducted performance testing using various tools to identify bottlenecks and make necessary optimizations. These combined strategies allowed me to successfully tackle the challenge of optimizing website load times and enhance the overall user experience for the client’s website.
An example of a mock-up for a webpage and the finished page after the website launched.
Q: That’s a great example of problem-solving in web development. How do you stay updated with the latest web development trends and technologies?
SA: Staying updated with the latest web development trends and technologies is crucial in our field. I keep myself informed through various methods. I analyze online sources, attend webinars and conferences, and closely follow industry-leading websites and blogs.
Additionally, I interact with fellow developers and experts in the field, exchanging insights and learning about emerging technologies and best practices. This continuous learning process ensures that I can adapt to and implement the latest technologies and trends in my projects.
Q: That’s great to hear. Now, how do you ensure responsive design and mobile optimization in your development process?
SA: Responsive design and mobile optimization are integral to my development process. With the increasing use of mobile devices, it’s essential to make websites accessible and user-friendly across different screen sizes and resolutions.
Responsive design allows me to create web pages that automatically adapt their layout and content based on the device being used. This ensures that whether someone is accessing a website from a desktop, tablet, or mobile phone, they will have an optimized viewing experience without the need for zooming or horizontal scrolling.
Mobile optimization goes beyond responsive design and focuses on tailoring the user experience specifically for mobile devices. This includes optimizing page load times, simplifying navigation, and designing for touch interaction. It also involves considerations like minimizing data usage and adapting to different network conditions.
By incorporating responsive design and mobile optimization into my development process, I can ensure that the websites and applications I create are accessible and user-friendly across a wide range of devices, providing a seamless experience for users, regardless of how they access the content.
Q: That’s a vital aspect of modern web development. Let’s shift to website security. What security measures do you take to protect websites from common vulnerabilities?
SA: Security is a top priority in website development, and I implement various measures to protect websites from common vulnerabilities. Here are some of the key security measures I take:
- Regular software updates: I ensure that all software, plugins, and themes used on the website are kept up to date with the latest security patches. This helps address known vulnerabilities and reduces the risk of attacks.
- Strong password policies: We recommend every client have a strong password policy for user accounts, requiring a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters to prevent unauthorized access. We can also enable two-factor authentication for our clients’ sites for an extra level of security.
- Secure coding practices: I follow secure coding practices to minimize the risk of vulnerabilities in the website’s code. This includes properly sanitizing user input, using parameterized queries to prevent SQL injection attacks, and validating input data.
- Firewall and security plugins: I use firewall and security plugins to add an extra layer of protection to the website. These plugins help block malicious traffic, detect and prevent brute force attacks, and provide alerts for suspicious activity.
- Regular backups: I regularly backup the website’s files and database to ensure that in case of an attack or data loss, the website can be restored to a previous working state.
- HTTPS encryption: I enable HTTPS encryption using SSL/TLS certificates to secure communication between the website and its users, protecting sensitive data like login credentials and personal information.
- User access controls: I implement role-based access controls to limit access to sensitive areas of the website, preventing unauthorized users from accessing and modifying critical files or settings.
These are just some of the security measures I take, tailored to each website’s specific needs.
Q: Those are crucial steps to safeguard websites. How do you handle cross-browser compatibility issues when developing websites?
SA: Cross-browser compatibility is essential to ensure that websites work smoothly on different browsers and versions. I approach this challenge by following best practices.
I use CSS and HTML standards that are widely supported across browsers to minimize compatibility issues. If a particular browser doesn’t support certain features or displays elements incorrectly, I find alternative solutions or provide graceful fallbacks.
Additionally, I stay updated with the latest browser trends and technologies to ensure optimal compatibility. It’s all about testing and adapting to ensure a consistent user experience across various browsers.
Q: Thank you for sharing that. Now, can you explain the importance of web accessibility and how you ensure websites are accessible to all users?
SA: Web accessibility is vital because it ensures that web applications and websites are usable and perceivable by individuals with disabilities. It’s not just a best practice; it’s an ethical responsibility. Providing equal access to information and services for everyone is a fundamental principle of a just and equitable society. To ensure websites are accessible to all users, we follow several key practices:
- We use HTML markup correctly and semantically to ensure that the structure and content of the web page are clear and meaningful.
- We collaborate with our clients to write alt text for accuracy that enhances transparency and communication between us, the client, and their website’s end-users. By providing correct file names and descriptive alternative text for images and multimedia elements, we are able to assist users with visual impairments in understanding the content through screen readers.
- We ensure that all interactive elements, such as buttons and forms, can be navigated and operated using a keyboard alone. This is crucial for users who cannot use a mouse or touch input.
- We use ARIA roles* and attributes to enhance the accessibility of dynamic and interactive web content, especially in web applications.
- We use a logical heading structure to create a hierarchy of content. Screen reader users rely on headings to navigate and understand the structure of a page.
- We ensure there is sufficient contrast between text and background colors to make content readable for users with low vision or color blindness. We do this by using a color contrast checking tool to verify that all color combinations meet the WCAG 2.1 AA standard of 4.5:1 contrast ratio for small text and 3:1 contrast ratio for large text.
- We regularly test websites with accessibility tools and conduct user testing with individuals who have disabilities.
Web accessibility is an ongoing process. We address new content and updates to maintain and improve accessibility continually.
Q: Finally, can you tell us about the programming languages and technologies you’re most proficient in and why?
SA: Absolutely. Some of the core technologies I’m most proficient in include:
WordPress: WordPress is a widely used platform for website development. It allows us to create and manage content easily. With numerous plugins, themes, and page builders available, we can build websites of various scales quickly, thanks to these open-source add-ons.
JavaScript: JavaScript adds functionality to the frontend of websites, enabling us to bind events with buttons, forms, and fields, and populate content received through APIs from the backend.
PHP: Since WordPress is built on top of PHP, this language is essential for customizing themes, plugins, or creating new ones.
MySQL: WordPress uses a MySQL database to store data, allowing us to directly manipulate the website’s data.
These technologies provide the foundation for developing dynamic and interactive websites efficiently.
Q: Great, and one final question. How do you approach version control and collaboration with the Shout It Out Design team and the client?
SA: Version control is essential for maintaining a website’s integrity and stability. We use Git or host backups manually, depending on the project’s requirements. In terms of collaboration, clear and effective communication is the key. We use tools like Basecamp to facilitate communication and collaboration within the Shout It Out Design team and with clients. Regular updates, inspections, and quality control ensure that the development process remains on track and meets the client’s expectations.
Q: Thank you, Sheeba, for sharing your insights and experiences with us. We love having you as a part of the SIOD team!
Sheeba Asad: You’re welcome. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss web development and my experiences. If you have any more questions or need further information, feel free to reach out anytime.
*ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) is a set of attributes that can be added to HTML elements to provide additional information about their role and behavior to assistive technologies. This is especially useful for dynamic and interactive web content, such as web applications, where the default HTML elements may not be sufficient to convey the necessary information to assistive technology users.
For example, an ARIA role attribute can be used to indicate that an element is a button, even if it is not using the native HTML <button> element. This allows assistive technology users to interact with the element as a button, even if it looks different from a traditional button.
ARIA attributes can also be used to provide additional information about the state and properties of elements. For example, an ARIA attribute can be used to indicate that a button is currently active or disabled. This information can be used by assistive technologies to provide users with more context about the element and how to interact with it.
Here are some examples of how ARIA can be used to improve the accessibility of dynamic and interactive web content:
Adding an aria-role=”button” attribute to a custom button element
Adding an aria-expanded=”true” attribute to an expanded menu
Adding an aria-disabled=”true” attribute to a disabled button
Adding an aria-current=”true” attribute to the currently selected tab.
A very good example of this is Text to speech accessibility option in phones android/iphone. It makes a callout for each action that is being performed.
