best-practices

Best practices

Modern web development standards based on Lighthouse best practices audits. Covers security, browser compatibility, and code quality patterns.

Evidence-led audit workflow

When a rendered page is available:

1. Run a live Lighthouse Best Practices audit when that capability is available; with Chrome DevTools MCP, use lighthouse_audit. Use navigation mode for a normal page load or snapshot mode when the current state must be preserved.
2. Inspect the listed console and network failures and fetch individual details only when they support a finding.
3. Supplement runtime evidence with dependency, header, configuration, and source inspection; Lighthouse is not a complete security assessment.
4. Fix the implicated code, re-run the same audit, and keep security findings separate from style preferences.

If live tools are unavailable, use the Lighthouse CLI plus focused dependency and header checks. Never report a high Lighthouse score as proof that the application is secure.

Security

Read the security reference when security is in scope or a live audit surfaces a related failure. It covers HTTPS/HSTS, CSP and Trusted Types, Subresource Integrity, headers, dependencies, sanitization, and cookies.

At minimum:

• Use HTTPS without mixed content. Add HSTS only after confirming every relevant subdomain supports HTTPS.
• Treat a strict CSP as defense in depth. Prefer nonces or hashes and test with report-only before enforcement.
• Sanitize untrusted HTML and protect DOM XSS sinks. Prefer text APIs when markup is not required.
• Pin and review third-party code. Use SRI where the delivery model supports it and keep dependencies patched.
• Verify response headers at runtime. Source configuration alone does not prove what the deployed page sends.

Browser compatibility

Doctype declaration

<!-- ❌ Missing or invalid doctype -->
<HTML>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN">

<!-- ✅ HTML5 doctype -->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

Character encoding

<!-- ❌ Missing or late charset -->
<html>
<head>
  <title>Page</title>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
</head>

<!-- ✅ Charset as first element in head -->
<html>
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <title>Page</title>
</head>

Viewport meta tag

<!-- ❌ Missing viewport -->
<head>
  <title>Page</title>
</head>

<!-- ✅ Responsive viewport -->
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Page</title>
</head>

Feature detection

// ❌ Browser detection (brittle)
if (navigator.userAgent.includes('Chrome')) {
  // Chrome-specific code
}

// ✅ Feature detection
if ('IntersectionObserver' in window) {
  // Use IntersectionObserver
} else {
  // Fallback
}

// ✅ Using @supports in CSS
@supports (display: grid) {
  .container {
    display: grid;
  }
}

@supports not (display: grid) {
  .container {
    display: flex;
  }
}

Polyfills (when needed)

Prefer bundling polyfills at build time (Babel/SWC + core-js, or @vitejs/plugin-legacy) targeted by your supported-browsers list. This eliminates the runtime check entirely and avoids shipping polyfill bytes to modern browsers.

If you must load a polyfill at runtime, append a script element — never use document.write (it blocks the parser and is broken in async/deferred contexts):

<script>
  if (!('fetch' in window)) {
    const s = document.createElement('script');
    s.src = '/polyfills/fetch.js';
    s.defer = true;
    document.head.appendChild(s);
  }
</script>

Never load polyfills from a third-party CDN you don't control. The polyfill.io service was compromised in mid-2024 in a supply-chain attack and used to serve malware to ~100k sites. Self-host, or use a vetted mirror (e.g. Cloudflare's cdnjs polyfill build) — and pin the version with Subresource Integrity.

Deprecated APIs

Avoid these

// ❌ document.write (blocks parsing)
document.write('<script src="..."></script>');

// ✅ Dynamic script loading
const script = document.createElement('script');
script.src = '...';
document.head.appendChild(script);

// ❌ Synchronous XHR (blocks main thread)
const xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open('GET', url, false); // false = synchronous

// ✅ Async fetch
const response = await fetch(url);

// ❌ Application Cache (deprecated)
<html manifest="cache.manifest">

// ✅ Service Workers
if ('serviceWorker' in navigator) {
  navigator.serviceWorker.register('/sw.js');
}

Event listener passive

// ❌ Non-passive touch/wheel (may block scrolling)
element.addEventListener('touchstart', handler);
element.addEventListener('wheel', handler);

// ✅ Passive listeners (allows smooth scrolling)
element.addEventListener('touchstart', handler, { passive: true });
element.addEventListener('wheel', handler, { passive: true });

// ✅ If you need preventDefault, be explicit
element.addEventListener('touchstart', handler, { passive: false });

Console & errors

No console errors

// ❌ Errors in production
console.log('Debug info'); // Remove in production
throw new Error('Unhandled'); // Catch all errors

// ✅ Proper error handling
try {
  riskyOperation();
} catch (error) {
  // Log to error tracking service
  errorTracker.captureException(error);
  // Show user-friendly message
  showErrorMessage('Something went wrong. Please try again.');
}

Error boundaries (React)

class ErrorBoundary extends React.Component {
  state = { hasError: false };
  
  static getDerivedStateFromError(error) {
    return { hasError: true };
  }
  
  componentDidCatch(error, info) {
    errorTracker.captureException(error, { extra: info });
  }
  
  render() {
    if (this.state.hasError) {
      return <FallbackUI />;
    }
    return this.props.children;
  }
}

// Usage
<ErrorBoundary>
  <App />
</ErrorBoundary>

Global error handler

// Catch unhandled errors
window.addEventListener('error', (event) => {
  errorTracker.captureException(event.error);
});

// Catch unhandled promise rejections
window.addEventListener('unhandledrejection', (event) => {
  errorTracker.captureException(event.reason);
});

Source maps

Production configuration

// ❌ Source maps exposed in production
// webpack.config.js
module.exports = {
  devtool: 'source-map', // Exposes source code
};

// ✅ Hidden source maps (uploaded to error tracker)
module.exports = {
  devtool: 'hidden-source-map',
};

// ✅ Or no source maps in production
module.exports = {
  devtool: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production' ? false : 'source-map',
};

Strip sourcesContent from production maps when uploading to your error tracker. By default, bundlers embed the full original source inside the .map file — anyone who obtains the map (including via a misconfigured upload step) gets your unminified code. Configure your bundler to omit sourcesContent, or use a Sentry/Bugsnag CLI flag that does so when uploading.

For Vite, prefer sourcemap: 'hidden' over 'true' so the //# sourceMappingURL= comment isn't emitted into the bundle.

Performance best practices

Avoid blocking patterns

// ❌ Blocking script
<script src="heavy-library.js"></script>

// ✅ Deferred script
<script defer src="heavy-library.js"></script>

// ❌ Blocking CSS import
@import url('other-styles.css');

// ✅ Link tags (parallel loading)
<link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="other-styles.css">

Efficient event handlers

// ❌ Handler on every element
items.forEach(item => {
  item.addEventListener('click', handleClick);
});

// ✅ Event delegation
container.addEventListener('click', (e) => {
  if (e.target.matches('.item')) {
    handleClick(e);
  }
});

Memory management

// ❌ Memory leak (never removed)
const handler = () => { /* ... */ };
window.addEventListener('resize', handler);

// ✅ Cleanup when done
const handler = () => { /* ... */ };
window.addEventListener('resize', handler);

// Later, when component unmounts:
window.removeEventListener('resize', handler);

// ✅ Using AbortController
const controller = new AbortController();
window.addEventListener('resize', handler, { signal: controller.signal });

// Cleanup:
controller.abort();

Code quality

Valid HTML

<!-- ❌ Invalid HTML -->
<div id="header">
<div id="header"> <!-- Duplicate ID -->

<ul>
  <div>Item</div> <!-- Invalid child -->
</ul>

<a href="/"><button>Click</button></a> <!-- Invalid nesting -->

<!-- ✅ Valid HTML -->
<header id="site-header">
</header>

<ul>
  <li>Item</li>
</ul>

<a href="/" class="button">Click</a>

Semantic HTML

<!-- ❌ Non-semantic -->
<div class="header">
  <div class="nav">
    <div class="nav-item">Home</div>
  </div>
</div>
<div class="main">
  <div class="article">
    <div class="title">Headline</div>
  </div>
</div>

<!-- ✅ Semantic HTML5 -->
<header>
  <nav>
    <a href="/">Home</a>
  </nav>
</header>
<main>
  <article>
    <h1>Headline</h1>
  </article>
</main>

Image aspect ratios

<!-- ❌ Distorted images -->
<img src="photo.jpg" width="300" height="100">
<!-- If actual ratio is 4:3, this squishes the image -->

<!-- ✅ Preserve aspect ratio -->
<img src="photo.jpg" width="300" height="225">
<!-- Actual 4:3 dimensions -->

<!-- ✅ CSS object-fit for flexibility -->
<img src="photo.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 200px; object-fit: cover;">

Permissions & privacy

Request permissions properly

// ❌ Request on page load (bad UX, often denied)
navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(success, error);

// ✅ Request in context, after user action
findNearbyButton.addEventListener('click', async () => {
  // Explain why you need it
  if (await showPermissionExplanation()) {
    navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(success, error);
  }
});

Permissions policy

<!-- Restrict powerful features -->
<meta http-equiv="Permissions-Policy" 
      content="geolocation=(), camera=(), microphone=()">

<!-- Or allow for specific origins -->
<meta http-equiv="Permissions-Policy" 
      content="geolocation=(self 'https://maps.example.com')">

Audit checklist

Security (critical)

• [ ] HTTPS enabled, no mixed content
• [ ] No vulnerable dependencies (npm audit)
• [ ] CSP headers configured (with frame-ancestors, base-uri, form-action)
• [ ] require-trusted-types-for 'script' enforced (or report-only during rollout)
• [ ] Third-party <script>/<link rel="stylesheet"> pinned with SRI hashes
• [ ] Security headers present (HSTS, X-Content-Type-Options, Referrer-Policy)
• [ ] No exposed source maps (and sourcesContent stripped from uploaded ones)

Compatibility

• [ ] Valid HTML5 doctype
• [ ] Charset declared first in head
• [ ] Viewport meta tag present
• [ ] No deprecated APIs used
• [ ] Passive event listeners for scroll/touch

Code quality

• [ ] No console errors
• [ ] Valid HTML (no duplicate IDs)
• [ ] Semantic HTML elements used
• [ ] Proper error handling
• [ ] Memory cleanup in components

UX

• [ ] No intrusive interstitials
• [ ] Permission requests in context
• [ ] Clear error messages
• [ ] Appropriate image aspect ratios

Tools

References

• MDN Web Security
• OWASP Top 10
• Web Quality Audit