Got a website programmed for me - how do I know if it was done well?

[mineistaken]

Ok, so lets say you need some site done, example, classified site. You go to freelancer sites, pick a programmer and get it done.
Besides checking if every feature works, how do you know if programmer did a good job?
I am thinking that programmers can send you poorly written code and you (as a regular Joe) would not have idea about that. And you could even leave perfect feedback for programmer not knowing that programmers was actually bad.

[sandman!]

the problem i see with most crap is alot of these coders have no idea how to use mysql databases properly they dont make proper indexes and shit gets slow as fuck once your pushing traffic / have alot of data.

[k0nr4d]

Often times outside of doing peer review on the code it's impossible to tell if it's well done or if the guy should be dragged out onto the street and stoned to death.

[woj]

easiest way is to pay someone a few bucks to look it over for you... but really, what's the point? 99% chance is that it's not "done well", there is a reason why programmers on these freelancer sites bill $2/hr...

[Klen]

Originally Posted by woj

easiest way is to pay someone a few bucks to look it over for you...

Yep.there are companies specialized for auditing code(to search for bad parts,security bugs,etc)so if you want to make sure how you wont wake up one way and witness a surprise on your website,you must go that route.

[Ferus]

Several Things could be done:
- Hire someone to review the Work
- Fuzzing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuzz_testing
- Test it yourself

[KickAssJesse]

A lot of factors should be taken into account; but the most important in my eyes, does it work with a minimum amount of resources needed. You should be able to tell once the site is generating enough traffic, but I agree with the others, have another programmer look it over. Programming, especially in web, should be up to today's standards; both front and back end. Debugging should be rather easy to turn off and on; a great trait to a well deserving programmer.

[Sid70]

http://www.goodfuckingdesignadvice.com/advice/200/

[mineistaken]

I think (as some of you already posted) there are 2 main things:
1. Site must load fast/optimum when high traffic is reached.
2. Site must be secure of hacking.

First one is not that easy to test until it is too late.

[blazin]

Define quality and then get them to write tests for the following tools and run against your code.

Readability - PHP Codesniffer
Performance / Scalability - xhprof / siege / apache bench
Security - Gauntlt
Unit Tests or BDD - PHPUnit / Selenium etc.

[blazin]

Originally Posted by mineistaken

I think (as some of you already posted) there are 2 main things:
1. Site must load fast/optimum when high traffic is reached.
2. Site must be secure of hacking.

First one is not that easy to test until it is too late.

See previous post.. But Apache Bench or Siege will do the job.

[The Porn Nerd]

1. Test the site. Test test test.
2. Hire Woj and be done with it.

[mineistaken]

Originally Posted by blazin

Define quality and then get them to write tests for the following tools and run against your code.

Readability - PHP Codesniffer
Performance / Scalability - xhprof / siege / apache bench
Security - Gauntlt
Unit Tests or BDD - PHPUnit / Selenium etc.

I assume these two would be the most important (not that the other two are not important)?
I will check them out, is it easy for non programmer to test using those tools?

[blazin]

Originally Posted by mineistaken

I assume these two would be the most important (not that the other two are not important)?
I will check them out, is it easy for non programmer to test using those tools?

These are typically professional development tools. but the performance ones are fairly simple... for a non-techie I would recommend Apache bench... you can run it from a linux server and run it against your different pages... For security I would recommend you use an external service such as Hacker Guardian. https://www.hackerguardian.com

Also take a look at http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/ which will help you assess various pages on your site from a front end performance perspective.

[mineistaken]

Originally Posted by blazin

These are typically professional development tools. but the performance ones are fairly simple... for a non-techie I would recommend Apache bench... you can run it from a linux server and run it against your different pages... For security I would recommend you use an external service such as Hacker Guardian. https://www.hackerguardian.com

Also take a look at http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt/ which will help you assess various pages on your site from a front end performance perspective.

Now that sounds great
I know it is not the same as professional audit of the code, but still way more than doing nothing