1. Web
development
Tips and tricks
By Mahmoud AlZarroug

2. Highlights
• Definition
• Architecture
o Storage Tier
o Server Tier
o Client Tier
• Common tips

3. 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

4. Architecture

5. Web applications

6. Client-Server
communication

7. Storage Tier

8. Storage Tier
Where information is stored and retrieved.

9. What to choose?

10. Relational database
• Utilize relationship between tables
• Flexible
• Easy to update/delete records
• Avoids duplicate data

11. NoSQL database
• Schema-less approach
• Easy to Scale
• Fast !

12. What database to choose?
Depends on your Software
requirements

13. Server Tier

14. Server side scripting

15. Key rules
• Security
• Performance
• Scalability

16. 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

17. Server Tier: Performance
• Minimize response time
• Code matters !!
o Find the simplest solution to a problem
o Avoid too many database calls
o Merge loops
o Review your algorithms

18. Server Tier: Performance
• Cache pages
• Cache database queries
• Use “Cache-Control” headers
• Cache function returns

19. Server Tier: Performance
• Merge JavaScript in a single file
• Merge CSS in a single file
• Compress CSS and JS in production

20. 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

21. Scalability methods

22. Client Tier

23. Client Tier
• Client Side Programming
• User Experience
• Browsers Compatibility

24. Client Side Programming
Flash

25. User Experience
1. Make pages load faster
2. Don’t make the user think
Use clear navigation, clear language, clear layout
3. First Impressions Matter
4. Show Your Credentials
Buy a SSL cert if required, write copyrights professionally
5. Remove stuff
Cluttered content, ads

26. Browsers Compatibility
You will definitely hate this guy

27. 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

28. 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

29. Questions?
Contact me anytime at:
mahmoud @ acadox .com
Or Twitter: @MaXo