1. Dominic Woodman
@dom_woodman
Distilled
How to debug things
http://www.slideshare.net/DominicWoodman

16. Language

17. Language
Breakdown, Re-create, Test

23. What is debugging?

24. I use it to mean a
specific kind of
problem solving

27. I have a problem.

28. I get roughly what I need to do.
I have a problem.

29. Language

30. I get roughly what I need to do.
I have a problem.

31. I get roughly what I need to do.
I know what I’m going to go
and do now.
I have a problem.

32. Breakdown, Re-
create, Test

33. Language

35. “How to post a job in
Drupal 7”

36. “How to use concrete to
create the Taj Mahal”

37. “How to post a job in Drupal 7”

38. “How to post a job in Drupal 7”
“How to create a page in Drupal 7”

39. “How to post a job in Drupal 7”
“How to create a page in Drupal 7”
“How to programmatically create
a page in Drupal 7”

40. “How to post a job in Drupal 7”
“How to create a page in Drupal 7”
“How to programmatically create
a page in Drupal 7”
“How to programmatically create
a node in Drupal 7”

42. Try to verbalise
what we want
“How to
post a job in
Drupal 7”

43. Look for information on a
concept
Try to verbalise
what we want

44. Look for information on a
concept
Try to verbalise
what we want
Learn
language
1

45. Look for information on a
concept
Try to verbalise
what we want
Learn
language
2

46. Look for information on a
concept
Try to verbalise
what we want
Learn
language
3

47. Look for information on a
concept
Try to verbalise
what we want
Learn
language
4

48. Look for information on a
concept
Try to verbalise
what we want
5
Research
topic

49. The problem isn’t
impossible
Marketing problems are often hard only
because there is so much complex language.
#brightonSEO @dom_woodman

50. Look for information on a
concept
Try to verbalise
what we want
5
Research
topic

51. Look for information on a
concept
Try to verbalise
what we want
5
Research
topic

52. Try to avoid the
language cycle
Time is better spent to understand the
concepts and the practicalities.
#brightonSEO @dom_woodman

54. Other people

55. Other people
Youtube tutorials

56. Other people
Youtube tutorials
Written tutorials

57. Other people
Youtube tutorials
Written tutorials
Documentation

58. When to ask for
help?
Not sure when it’s ok to ask for help? If
you’re stuck on language always ask for it.
#brightonSEO @dom_woodman

59. Get people to ask
about language
Create an atmosphere in your team so people
feel comfortable asking about language.
#brightonSEO @dom_woodman

60. Look for information on a
concept
Try to verbalise
what we want
Learn
language
1

61. Look for information on a
concept
Try to verbalise
what we want
1
Research
topic

62. Piece of cake.

63. It’s basically done.

64. I think I’ve got it.

65. Now I’ve got it.

66. Hmm hadn’t expected that.

67. Guys, I’m having a bad day.

68. You’ve found the answer
but it’s intimidating

69. Stick with it until
you comprehend
Pull out parts and
quickly test

70. Stick with it until you
comprehend

71. Area Quick debugger
JS Developer Tools (Console tab)
Python CLI, PythonAnywhere
CSS Developer Tools (Elements tab)
Regex Regex101
Status codes & Directives Crawlbin
Hreflang Hreflang tester, Hreflang Ninja
Or find a way to QUICKLY test

72. Copy paste or
actually read
Reading without comprehending or trying is
the easiest and least helpful.
#brightonSEO @dom_woodman

74. “I have no idea how I
installed it, so we just
sudo remove all”
Dominic Woodman - How to fix Drush

75. “Be careful with crawl
paths.”
Dominic Woodman - Notes on Ajax facets

76. Keep a notes file
for definitions
Write as if you won’t come back to it for 2
months. Future you will appreciate it.
#brightonSEO @dom_woodman

77. I get roughly what I need to do.
I have a problem.

78. I get roughly what I need to do.
I know what I’m going to go
and do now.
I have a problem.

79. Re-create
Breakdown & Test

80. Consistently re-
create a problem
A problem you can’t consistently re-create
is a problem you can’t test and solve.
#brightonSEO @dom_woodman

87. 4
1

88. Imitate location

89. Imitate user agent

90. Imitate Google’s IP

91. And location and user
agent.

92. Imitate Google’s JS
Rendering

93. This really is a pretty
great tool.

94. Imitating Google for
a single request
The mobile testing tool or URL inspector in
GSC will both show you the rendered DOM.
#brightonSEO @dom_woodman

96. 41 41 41
41 41 41
41 41 41

97. 41
Website 1
41 41 41
Website 2 Website 3 Website 4

98. Index
Crawling
Rendering

99. 41
Your old, slow, website

100. 41 41 41 41
Your old, slow, website

101. 41
Your old, slow, website
00:00

102. 41
CACHE
41
EMPTY
CACHE

103. Server resources
Caching
Periodic tasks
Crawl resource
Crawl render delay

104. Server logs can spot
inconsistent problems
If you’re seeing in-consistent problems,
they’re best spotted in logs.
#brightonSEO @dom_woodman

105. An example

108. On-page
Off-page

109. You can’t re-create in
the Bing validator :(

110. Exact competitor
markup

111. On-page
Off-page

112. {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Product",
"aggregateRating": {
"@type": "AggregateRating",
"ratingValue": "3.5",
"reviewCount": "11"
},
"description": "Customers reviews of microwave.",
"name": "Microwave Customer Reviews"
}

113. {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Product",
"aggregateRating": {
"@type": "AggregateRating",
"ratingValue": "3.5",
"reviewCount": "11"
},
"description": "Customers reviews of microwave.",
"name": "Microwave Customer Reviews",
"price": 120.99
}
It’s a product without a price

114. {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Product",
"aggregateRating": {
"@type": "AggregateRating",
"ratingValue": "3.5",
"reviewCount": "11",
"bestRating": "5",
"worstRating": "1",
},
"description": "Customers reviews of microwave.",
"name": "Microwave Customer Reviews",
}
It doesn't have ratings bounds

115. On-page
Off-page
Missing fields
No price
No ratings bounds

116. {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Product",
}
It’s JSON-LD not microdata
<div itemscope
itemtype="http://schema.org/Product">
...
</div>

117. On-page
Off-page
Missing fields
Data format
No price
No ratings bounds
JSON-LD not
microdata

119. On-page
Off-page
Missing fields
Data format
No price
No ratings bounds
JSON-LD not
microdata

121. On-page
Off-page
Missing fields
Data format
Data values
No price
No ratings bounds
JSON-LD not
microdata

122. {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Product",
"aggregateRating": {
"@type": "AggregateRating",
"ratingValue": "3.5",
"reviewCount": "11"
},
"description": "Customers reviews of microwave.",
"name": "Microwave Customer Reviews"
}

124. On-page
Off-page
Missing fields
Data format
Data values
No price
No ratings bounds
JSON-LD not
microdata
Schema Protocol

125. WHY BING WHY

126. Break your problem
into single tests
Take your problem and break it into
chunks that you can individually test.
#brightonSEO @dom_woodman

127. bit.ly/debugging-checklist

128. bit.ly/brighton-debugging