Web development

Tips and tricksBy Mahmoud AlZarroug

Highlights• Definition

• Architectureo Storage Tiero Server TieroClient Tier

• Common tips

A Web application is..• An application that utilizes Web browsers to

accomplish one or more tasks over a network

• It can be a simple static page or as advanced as a social network

• Examples:o Twitter, Google Search, Facebook, GMail, Angry

Birds (HTML5 version).. etc

Architecture

Web applications

Client-Server communication

Storage Tier

Storage Tier Where information is stored and retrieved.

What to choose?

Relational database• Utilize relationship between tables

• Flexible

• Easy to update/delete records

• Avoids duplicate data

NoSQL database• Schema-less approach

• Easy to Scale

• Fast !

What database to choose?

Depends on your Software requirements

Server Tier

Server side scripting

Key rules• Security

• Performance

• Scalability

Server Tier: Security• Cross Site Scripting (XSS):

o enables attackers to inject client-side script into Web pages viewed by other users

• SQL injection:o done by passing SQL statements in an entry field in an attempt

to get the website to pass rogue SQL command to the database

• denial-of-service attack (DoS attack):o an attempt to make a machine or network resource

unavailable to its intended users

• Remote code execution:o ability to execute any commands of the attacker's choice on a

target machine or in a target process

Server Tier: Performance

• Minimize response time• Code matters !!

o Find the simplest solution to a problemo Avoid too many database callso Merge loopso Review your algorithms

Server Tier: Performance

• Cache pages

• Cache database queries

• Use “Cache-Control” headers

• Cache function returns

Server Tier: Performance

• Merge JavaScript in a single file

• Merge CSS in a single file

• Compress CSS and JS in production

Server Tier: Scalability

• The ability of a system to handle a growing amount of work in a capable manner or its ability to be enlarged to accommodate that growth

Scalability methods

Client Tier

Client Tier• Client Side Programming

• User Experience

• Browsers Compatibility

Client Side Programming

Flash

User Experience1. Make pages load faster2. Don’t make the user think

Use clear navigation, clear language, clear layout

3. First Impressions Matter4. Show Your Credentials

Buy a SSL cert if required, write copyrights professionally

5. Remove stuffCluttered content, ads

Browsers Compatibility

You will definitely hate this guy

How to avoid it?• First step to avoid browsers compatibility issues is

to know your users and the most common browsers between them

• Minimize using CSS3 and HTML5 if possible or use an alternative depends on the browser

• Use JS frameworks/libraries like Jquery or MooTools

Common Web development tips

• For rapid development use MVC frameworks:o CodeIgniter, CakePHP, Django, ASP.NET

• Use Cloud solutions for server architecture:o Amazon AWS, IBM Cloud, Azure

• “Simplicity is the soul of efficiency”o -Austin Freeman

• “Make it Work Before You Make it Fast”o -Brian Smits

Questions?

Contact me anytime at: mahmoud @ acadox .com

Or Twitter: @MaXo