15 year old code? Really…

In early July we worked on one of our client’s websites and I was simply amazed to find years-old code in some of the files.

Now, this wasn’t a massive site by any means, a simple five-page website, clean, dated, and not well maintained—yet it was surprising to find some of the code we had written years ago, and some that was just not used.

Websites really stink under the hood, that’s the bad thing. Unlike cars, if your car isn’t up to the mark, it ain’t going to work for you, but with sites, it’s like it does work, poorly and you never get to know. I wouldn’t know if my mechanic regularly patches up stuff from here and there, and the car still works. And I wouldn’t bounce from one mechanic to another, just for kicks.

Still, this site had bounced a couple of hands, I recall we did the original version, or one after the original one, and I had used Adobe’s Dreamweaver (earlier Macromedia Dreamweaver) to build the site, so I found my age-old main.dwt (Dreamweaver Template) file in the site’s root, and all those InstanceBeginEditable and InstanceEndEditable Dreamweaver template markers across pages, used to define editable regions in Dreamweaver template (.dwt) files.

And the sad part, the site was moved away from Dreamweaver years ago, so this was all residual files and residual code, still sitting in the site, some 15 years later. Woah!

The point here is, given how or who you end up hiring for your web work, your site’s code may or may not be right. There could be snippets of code from yesteryears, or there could be libraries that aren’t used. On this project, we found that there were some Bootstrap files, that weren’t used, a Thickbox library—unused as well, and lines and lines of code—like CSS that was only fighting older code, to get the visuals right. Nah, this ain’t how you go about it, here’s how:

Hire someone who’s licensed, specifically to do the work you’re hiring them for. So if you’re hiring someone to do your website, it’s not your IT person, who looks after your computers, nope, it’s got to be someone who’s a web developer. Next, you’ve got to make sure they know their stuff, so don’t ask them about what companies they’ve worked for, and don’t ask them to show you websites they’ve made, nope, that’s all subjective. Ask them whether they can take care of these things for you:

• Review your site and give you an audit report, on how bad it is. So a site audit.
• If you have no website, ask them what technology they’ll build it on. Every developer has a tool up their sleeve that they’re comfortable with, get them to tell you.
• Use ChatGPT to understand what’s involved. So if they tell you they’ll build your site using something like Python, ask ChatGPT to explain the what, why, … you get the idea. The basics.
• If someone told me they’ll use Python, I’d go dizzy, because that’s like someone telling me they’ll use Al Baker flour to make my pizza. Now, it’s easier with pizza because all flour is almost the same, unless of course you’re Gennaro Contaldo, but, Python is simply a programming language. So if someone simply says Python, I’ll shy away from them. I’d like to have someone who can take me through the process, or a journey, whichever term suits you.
• Now, working on existing code is a mess, so if you have a website, the audit helps tell—not you—but your developer that I’m getting into a mess. It really does, because most coders can see how bad something really is. As an example, when I log in to WordPress (a lovely design tool for websites and blogs and e-commerce and virtually anything these days under the sun), I get a 360 degree view of what’s going on, instantly. If I see tens of notices of expired licenses, or plugins needing updates, or outdated WordPress—well, I get one clear message, ‘There’s no one taking care of this site, and no one—including the site’s owner—really cares.’ So all kinds of alarm bells start ringing. This is why, when it comes to working on a pre-existing website, I always weigh the cost: is it worth going in and fixing a mess, or is it straight enough for us to go ahead and rebuild the whole damn thing, from scratch. So, as someone who has a website, either get the guy who worked on it earlier to work on it again, or get someone new to build a new site. It’s simpler and cheaper.
• Remember, it’s your site, so it’s your responsibility to get all the requirements in place. The site’s logo, the byline (slogan), the color scheme, products and services, the literature, contact information, maps, … you name it. It’s all your work, if you prefer working with freelancers—especially the younger ones who think they can do some web development here and there—they wouldn’t know any of these, they’re here to work, and move to the next project as soon as they can. Hire an agency, or a team that can cover most bases. Yes, it’s expensive, but so is your time and money. When one project fails, there’s a domino effect somewhere. Account for that.
• Then there’s that vital question for your developer, how busy are you, no, really? Try to know that, you really don’t want to hire them and then sit on a pile of say twenty or so half-completed projects. Once one of my dear clients Martin H. (name withheld for privacy) visited our office in Garhoud and during our conversation asked me, how many projects do you have at present? I told him proudly—about twelve or so—and showed my list. He said, how do I get from here, his was somewhere in the middle, to here, the top. And that rang a bell, how many projects can you actually roll up to the top? Unless of course you have that many resources.
• Shy away, if they want you to buy away! Getting financially committed is important, getting stuck is another mess. And remember, in most setups, sales teams with their buttery smooth, ‘we’ll do it all’ attitude will sell you the moon, and I’ve had my own fair share of this, the moment you hire them, the nice smooth guy hands over the conversation to well, a not so smooth, web developer. And suddenly, your conversation, all that input you had given, like that famous game of Ludo, slides you right back to square one. So ask them this, once I award the project, who will be communicating with me, is it you, or someone else. If it’s someone else, have them join the conversation now. See if they get you.
• Think long term; do you want the exact same website, for life? One of my best clients won’t change their site and it’s been like what, twenty-two years! We designed it in 2003 and it’s not moved an inch in any respect. This may be a unique case and your clients may have other priorities, but websites are only a representation of you, or your ideas. The more they remain the same, the more there’s a chance you’ll do too. So talk to your web developer about long term engagement, and their fees to do what it takes to keep everything running, and fresh.
• Yesterday isn’t the answer. Your site can’t be made overnight. To work on something from scratch and cover all basics, design, code, SEO, and the lot, you should eye for a minimum of four weeks of work, if not more. Since site depth varies, it’s hard to place a number on things, so this goes back to that other question, how busy are you, really? These days when a client asks us about a project, at the very early stage, I let them know how busy we are, straight up. And I say it this way, we’re wrapping up a project in a few days, and then we’re free to take on new work. Plain and simple, there’s nothing to hide, and it helps earn trust. Know that it’s human beings doing your work, and they do need some reasonable time.

Did I cover everything, oh boy, it’s hard to say, but one thing is for sure, if you’re neglecting your website, you’re either just tired of it, or you’ve found another way to get leads. My client had a top first page ranking in Google here in Dubai, so much so that I know their homepage SEO target phrase by heart, yet, it was sad to see that the site had dropped to the third page—around the 30th spot, and well, basic tags like meta title and meta description were simply missing. These were on there before. Someone broke ’em.

So if you think your website is a book, remember this, even books need a revision once in a while, and book covers frequently too. Popular ones, more so.