Five-Minute Fixes That Make You Look Like a Pro
Small improvements that take almost no time but make your website or project look way more polished.
Some things take five minutes but make a disproportionate difference. These are the ones I always do — the low-effort, high-impact improvements that separate "looks like a weekend project" from "looks like someone who knows what they're doing."
Add a Proper Favicon
Nothing screams "unfinished" louder than the default browser icon in a tab. Your site could be beautifully designed, but that missing favicon makes it feel like a draft.
Take your logo (or even just a single letter), run it through a favicon generator, and add the files. Two minutes, and your site instantly looks more legitimate.
Optimize Your SVGs
If you're using SVG icons or illustrations, there's a good chance they're bloated with editor metadata, unnecessary elements, and redundant attributes.
A typical SVG exported from a design tool might be 15KB. After optimization, it's 3KB. Same visual result, 80% less data.
Run your SVGs through an optimizer and replace the originals. Your page loads faster and nobody can tell the difference.
Minify Your CSS and JavaScript
In development, your code has comments, whitespace, and descriptive variable names. Great for readability.
For production? Strip all of that out. Minification removes everything the browser doesn't need, cutting file sizes by 30-60%.
Most build tools do this automatically. But if you're working with raw files or a simple site without a build step, a quick code minifier handles it.
Fix Your OpenGraph Image
Share your site's URL on Slack, Twitter, or iMessage. What shows up?
If it's a blank preview or a random screenshot, you're missing an OpenGraph image. This is the image that appears when someone shares your link.
Create a simple 1200x630 image with your site name and a brief description. Set it in your HTML head. Takes five minutes and makes every shared link look intentional instead of broken.
Set Up Proper Error Pages
Hit a broken link on your site. What happens?
If it's the default server error page or a blank white screen, fix that. A custom 404 page with a link back to your homepage takes ten minutes to build and saves visitors who land on dead links.
Keep it simple: "This page doesn't exist. Here are some places that do."
Compress Your Images (Again)
Yes, I know you already did this. But did you compress the images you added last week? What about the client's logo they emailed as a 4MB PNG?
Image compression isn't a one-time task. Every new image needs the same treatment. If you find yourself skipping it, make it part of your workflow — compress before upload, every time.
Add a Loading State
If your page fetches data or loads heavy content, show something during the wait. A spinner. A skeleton screen. Even just "Loading..." in plain text.
A blank page for 2 seconds feels broken. A page with a spinner for 2 seconds feels normal. Same wait time, completely different experience.
Check Your Mobile View
Open your site on your phone. Actually look at it. Tap the buttons. Fill out a form.
I've seen beautifully responsive sites where the "Submit" button was partially hidden behind the keyboard on mobile. Nobody caught it because nobody tested on a real phone.
Polish isn't about perfection. It's about eliminating the things that make people think "this doesn't seem quite right." A favicon, optimized assets, clean error pages, and a decent mobile experience. None of these take more than five minutes, and together they make everything feel intentional.