by Alex Schnee
When you are looking to build out an application or create a website where you know there will be multiple users involved, then you are going to want take time to think about how you want to approach some of the problems that will follow. This means determining what features you want to offer these users, how they are going to have access to the items they need to, and how you are going to have them complete actions you want.
Here are some things to keep in mind when building out a site that requires multiple users.
Literacy with technology
Your users should be the thing that comes first when you are creating a site that works for them. This means you are going to want to do some market research into who your ideal users are and how used to using various platforms. Older users might have a harder time navigating a dashboard, which means that you might have to make some changes to the overall design in order for them to successfully use it.
Design
It can be much simpler to create a website that attends to the needs of your users when you have the design you need in place. This might mean working closer with a UX/UI designer in order to make sure that everything is there for your users. A designer might be able to let you know whether or not you might also need some extra tools like Next.js authentication so you can ensure that you have the security you needed. Before you even begin building out your site, make sure your design is in place.
Bandwidth
How many people will be using your site can be a big factor in how you create it. More people means that you are going to have to make sure that the site is built to handle it. This means having quality hosting so that if you have an influx of users at one time, it can handle having an increase of people. If you have a set limit on who can access certain accounts or how many users can be on a platform on at one time, you want to make sure that it will cover who needs to be on at which areas.
Bugs and crashes
More users and accounts means that there is more likely that you will have some bugs and crashes than you might if you’ve designed the site for a few users at a time. This means that you are likely going to need to do some additional testing that can help you see whether or not there are going to be some future issues. The more you can be aware of this beforehand, the better site you are going to create.
In summary
Designing a site for multiple users presents a whole bunch of concerns for a coder that you need to keep in mind. With the right expectations, you can create something that works for a number of people at one time.
