BAD IDEA OF THE WEEK: Making mistakes in your programming

Today may be Facebook's tenth birthday but one should remember that without reliable coding and an appealing user interface, the site wouldn't be where it is today. But not every site has been so lucky over the years. Case in point: a "coding error" on the NHS website exposed users to harmful websites rather than health advice. More than 800 pages on NHS.uk automatically redirected unsuspecting users to pages that contain either malware or advertising. The affected pages were highlighted by a user who posted details of the problem on Reddit. In a statement, the NHS said its site had not been maliciously attacked and that it had fixed the problem, which should never have happened to start with. It takes more than good looks and added bells and whistles to make a good website great - you also need to know how to code them so you don't get the wrong colour or linked page or whatever.