Top 10 Common Mistakes for WordPress Front-End Developers to Avoid

Today, WordPress alone is behind 42% of websites worldwide, which makes the front-end developer’s work in it critical. But with a great poplar comes with it great responsibilities. This article focuses on issues that experienced developers can employ while designing and crafting sites, ultimately putting site performance, users’ experience, and clients’ satisfaction at risk.

Neglecting Mobile Responsiveness

In 2023, mobile devices accounted for 59.4% of global website traffic (Statista, 2023). Despite this, many developers still prioritise desktop design, treating mobile as an afterthought. I personally love Desktop designs (as a dev), but paying attention to the mobile interface is a compulsory ritual.

Common mistakes include:

• Using fixed widths instead of responsive units (e.g., pixels vs. percentages or vw/vh)
• Failing to test on various devices and screen sizes
• Overlooking touch-friendly navigation for mobile users

Example: A restaurant website with a PDF menu that's unreadable on mobile screens. Instead, consider using a responsive table or accordion-style menu that adapts to screen size.

Best practice: Adopt a mobile-first approach. Start designing for the smallest screen and scale up, using CSS media queries to adjust layouts for larger screens.

Overreliance on Plugins

While WordPress's extensive plugin ecosystem is a strength, it can also be a weakness. Excessive plugin use can lead to:

• Slower page load times
• Increased security vulnerabilities
• Compatibility issues between plugins

A study by Wordfence found that plugins were responsible for 55.9% of all known WordPress vulnerabilities.

Example: Installing a plugin for a simple contact form when a custom-coded solution would be lighter and more secure.

Best practice: Before installing a plugin, ask:

1. Can this functionality be achieved with custom code?
2. Is this plugin well-maintained and compatible with my WordPress version?
3. Does the benefit outweigh the potential performance cost?

Ignoring Page Speed Optimisation

Google reports that 53% of mobile site visits are abandoned if pages take longer than 3 seconds to load. Key factors often overlooked include:

• Unoptimised images
• Render-blocking JavaScript and CSS
• Lack of browser caching
• Unminified code

Example: A photography portfolio site using full-resolution images causing long load times. Solution: Implement lazy loading and serve appropriately sized, compressed images.

Best practice: Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify and address performance issues. Implement caching solutions, minify CSS and JavaScript, and optimise media files.

Overlooking Accessibility

Web accessibility is not just a nice-to-have; it's a legal requirement in many countries, including the UK under the Equality Act 2010. Yet, many developers overlook this crucial aspect.

Common accessibility mistakes include:

- Poor colour contrast

- Missing alt text for images

- Inaccessible forms

- Non-semantic HTML structure

Example: A news website that uses light grey text on a white background, making it difficult for visually impaired users to read.

Best practice: Use tools like the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool to check your site. Ensure your site meets WCAG 2.1 standards. Remember, good accessibility often improves usability for all users.

Poor Theme Customisation

Many developers rely too heavily on pre-made themes, resulting in websites that look generic and fail to meet specific client needs.

Pitfalls include:

- Not understanding the theme's structure before customising

- Directly editing theme files instead of using a child theme

- Overriding too many theme styles, leading to bloated CSS

Example: Using a multi-purpose theme for a simple blog, resulting in unnecessary code bloat and slower load times.

Best practice: If using a pre-made theme, always create a child theme for customisations. Better yet, consider building a custom theme if the project requirements are unique.

Neglecting SEO Fundamentals

While WordPress is generally SEO-friendly out of the box, developers often miss opportunities to enhance a site's search engine performance.

Key SEO elements often overlooked:

- Proper use of heading tags (H1, H2, etc.)

- Optimised meta titles and descriptions

- SEO-friendly URL structures

- Internal linking strategy

Example: Using H1 tags multiple times on a single page, confusing search engines about the page's main topic.

Best practice: Understand basic SEO principles. Use plugins like Yoast SEO as a guide, but don't rely on them entirely. Ensure your code structure supports your SEO strategy.

Inconsistent Design Across Pages

A cohesive design is crucial for user experience and brand identity. Inconsistencies can make a site feel unprofessional and confuse users.

Common inconsistencies include:

- Varying font styles and sizes

- Inconsistent colour schemes

- Different button styles across pages

- Inconsistent spacing and layout

Example: A corporate website where the 'About Us' page has a completely different layout and colour scheme from the rest of the site.

Best practice: Develop and adhere to a style guide for each project. Use CSS variables (you can use a plugin compatible with your page builder e.g. Core Framework) or a preprocessor like Sass to maintain consistent styles. Regularly review the site as a whole to ensure design coherence.

Ignoring Security Best Practices

Security should be a top priority for any WordPress developer, yet it's often overlooked. According to a 2021 report by Sucuri, 50% of all CMS-based website hacks were on WordPress sites.

Common security mistakes include:

- Using weak admin passwords and use of common names as usernames.

- Neglecting to update WordPress core, themes, and plugins

- Installing of plugins from unreliable sources.

- Failing to implement SSL certificates

- Not limiting login attempts

- Allowing user registration when your site doesn’t need users to have an account.

Example: A website that uses 'admin' as the username and a simple password, making it an easy target for brute force attacks.

Best practice: Use strong, unique passwords for all accounts. Keep WordPress and all components updated. Implement security plugins like Wordfence or Sucuri. Always use HTTPS.

Lack of Proper Documentation

Poor documentation can lead to difficulties in site maintenance and handover, frustrating clients and future developers.

Areas often lacking documentation:

- Custom functions and hooks

- Theme customisation details

- Plugin configurations

- Content management instructions for clients

Example: A developer creates a custom post type (CPT) for a client's product catalogue but doesn't document how to use it, leading to confusion when the client tries to add new products.

Best practice: Create a comprehensive documentation package for each project. Include both technical details for other developers and user guides for clients.

Browser Compatibility Issues

With numerous browsers and versions in use, ensuring cross-browser compatibility is crucial but often overlooked.

Common compatibility mistakes:

- Testing only on one preferred browser

- Ignoring older browser versions

- Using cutting-edge CSS features without fallbacks

Example: A portfolio site that looks perfect in Chrome but has layout issues in Safari due to unsupported CSS properties.

Best practice: Test your sites on multiple browsers and versions. Use tools like BrowserStack for comprehensive testing. Implement graceful degradation or progressive enhancement techniques.

Conclusion

Staying clear of these wrongdoings can go a long way in enhancing the quality of the front-end development in WordPress. Thus, by having major objectives that revolve around responsiveness, performance, accessibility, security, and user experience, you would be able to master the art of delivering broken websites that are not only beautiful but also an effective tool for interacting with customers of any age.

Do not forget that this profession of WP developer does not equate to having good coding skills. It is the knowledge of the ecosystem and its evolution, the use of fresh recommendations, and the principle ‘user comes first.

Reflect on these points as you commence your WordPress trip and it is advisable to look back into them from time to time to serve your clients with the best WordPress websites. Web development is a vast field and there is always something new to learn, so always remain curious and do not shy from experimenting with the new web development techniques.

Need expert WordPress development? Let's talk.

Abdulhakeem Yusuf

WordPress Developer & Front-End Specialist

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/abqariyuh