Sustainable Web Design - How to Create Websites That Protect the Planet
By Sam Cooke
As web developers, our mind is often focused on aesthetics and practicality. Customers want functional websites that look the part and promote their business in the right light. However, there is a new focus that is taking over the market and forcing web developers to think differently. This focus is sustainable web design.
Why is sustainable web design so important? Well, it’s hard to go a day without hearing about global warming on the news. People are changing the way that they live, and that starts with looking at the businesses they buy from.
As web designers, investing in sustainable web design gives us two key benefits. Firstly, we get the moral benefit of knowing that we are making a positive difference to the planet. Secondly, prospects are more likely to buy from us, and sustainability gives us an advantage over our competitors.
Sustainable Web Design- How to Design Eco-Friendly Websites
One key thing that will help with sustainable web design is optimising media on any website you build. To do this, minimise the use of any large images, videos or other media files. If you are using high-resolution images, then use image compressing software to lower the resolution. Just make sure the change in quality isn’t noticeable. This will speed up your client’s website too!
The way you design a website also plays a role in how much carbon it emits. Websites with intricate designs and flashy imagery take longer to load and use more processing power, so they emit more carbon dioxide when someone views them.
The way you design a website also plays a role in how much carbon it emits. Websites with intricate designs and flashy imagery take longer to load and use more processing power, so they emit more carbon dioxide when someone views them.
Where possible, use minimalist designs on your customers' websites. They can still be beautiful, even when they look simplistic. Just think about the design of beautiful houses or hotels you have visited. Some of your favourites will be the ones that took a minimalist approach, and it’s the same with websites.
Sustainable Web Design- How Do You Maintain an Eco-Friendly Website?
Sustainable web design is one thing, but you must also support your websites so that they continue to be green. Hosting plays a big part in this. If you outsource your hosting, then look for a hosting provider that uses renewable energy and has a carbon-neutral policy.
You should also implement energy-saving techniques, such as using low-power modes for the website's servers, to reduce energy consumption. Use caching and content delivery networks (CDNs) to reduce the amount of data sent and received, which reduces the website's energy consumption. As an additional tip, dark websites use up to 20% less carbon!
Finally, continually monitor your websites performance. The key thing to consider is how much energy the website is consuming. Sustainable websites should consume as little energy as possible.
There are energy-monitoring tools available to you if you’re serious about sustainable web design. For example, our system monitors how much CO2 a website emits, and then compares it against the average carbon usage of similar sites.
The more views a website gets, the more carbon it emits. If you or your client are investing in search engine optimisation (SEO), then you may need to take extra care to offset your emissions as your page traffic increases.
Enhance Your Business with Sustainable Web Design
We’re web designers ourselves, so we understand how much work you put into building your sites, even without taking CO2 emissions into account. However, going sustainable is worth the effort. Websites work faster when they produce less carbon, and surveys show that consumers are 81% more likely to buy from sustainable brands.
The key to sustainable web design is to think about the environment with every step you take. You should even look at the way you code a website to make sure you lower its emissions. For example, remove any unnecessary code that isn’t adding anything to the overall design or performance. Then, once the website has been built, continually monitor it to check where improvements can be made.
Our service makes website’s carbon-neutral. When a client works with us, they get access to a dashboard that tells them how much carbon their website is emitting, and how this measures against average website emissions. We then offset the website’s emissions by investing money in The Fair Climate Fund, which is doing amazing humanitarian work to reduce carbon emissions in third-world countries.
On top of this, you get a certificate for your website that tells customers your website is carbon-neutral. To discover more about our service and how it can help you and your customers win more business, get in touch by clicking here.
