Dynamic Websites, Compatibility & SEO

In previous lessons, we’ve learned about a wide range of website development principles, covering topics such as page layout, navigation, content, design, and user experience.

Here, we will explore some additional advanced website characteristics that are crucial for modern web development.

In this lesson, we’ll learn about:

1. Dynamic websites
2. Cross-browser compatibility
3. Search engine optimisation

The content or appearance of dynamic websites changes based on factors such as user interaction, time, or location.

Unlike static sites, they offer interactive and personalised experiences, driven by server-side processing and databases.

Some key features of dynamic websites include:

• Customised user experience
• Controlled access to content

Let’s look at each of these in more detail.

Dynamic websites excel at providing a customised user experience, adapting content and functionality to individual users.

This includes personalised recommendations (e.g., e-commerce & news feeds), location-based services, and adjustable language & currency settings.

Benefits include enhanced user engagement, increased relevance, improved satisfaction, and higher conversion rates, all of which are achieved through tailored content.

Dynamic websites enable sophisticated control over content access.

This is essential for platforms that require user authentication (login systems), subscription models (paywalls), or differentiated user roles (e.g., administrators or subscribers).

This functionality protects sensitive information, supports premium services, facilitates community building, and ensures secure transactions, critical for many online services.

Cross-browser compatibility ensures that a website functions and displays consistently across various web browsers (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari) and their respective versions.

Achieving this is crucial because users access the web using a diverse range of software.

Some of the key techniques for achieving cross-browser compatibility are:

• Reducing discrepancies in different browsers
• Mobile compatibility

Let’s look at each of these in more detail.

To reduce browser discrepancies, developers often reset or normalise stylesheets to standardise default styles.

Historically, vendor prefixes were used to address experimental CSS, although this is less common now.

Polyfills, pieces of code that provide modern functionality to older browsers, help ensure a consistent experience.

Thorough testing across various browsers is crucial for identifying and resolving inconsistencies, thereby ensuring a consistent user experience for all visitors.

Mobile compatibility is a crucial aspect of cross-browser compatibility, focusing on the website’s functionality and appearance on mobile devices.

Responsive web design is the primary approach, using fluid grids, flexible images, and media queries to adapt layouts to different screen sizes.

Touch-friendly interfaces and optimised performance (such as via image compression & code minification) are also vital for mobile users.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) increases website traffic through organic search results.

It involves optimising site content and structure to appeal to search engines like Google.

Key principles include keyword research, on-page optimisation (e.g., title tags, meta descriptions, and headings), off-page SEO (e.g., backlinks), and technical SEO (e.g., site speed and mobile-friendliness).

Let’s look at some of these principles in more detail.

On-page SEO involves optimising individual web pages for higher search rankings.

This includes creating high-quality, relevant content that genuinely serves user intent.

Optimising title tags, meta descriptions, headings, URL structure, and image alt text also helps search engines understand the page’s topics and improves visibility in search results.

Off-page SEO activities, such as building backlinks from reputable websites, improve search ranking by signalling authority.

Technical SEO optimises website mechanics for efficient crawling and indexing.

This includes site speed, mobile-friendliness, XML sitemaps for discovery, robots.txt for crawler instructions, and HTTPS security.

User experience also indirectly influences SEO, as UX signals (e.g. bounce rate & time on site) are considered when ranking pages.

Dynamic websites provide personalised, interactive experiences and controlled content access by adapting to user needs and behaviours.

Cross-browser compatibility ensures websites function consistently across different browsers and devices through standardisation, testing, and responsive design.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) improves a website’s visibility in search results by optimising content, structure, and technical elements to attract more organic traffic.