When it comes to web development, “going green” is becoming increasingly popular. More and more businesses are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprints, and one way to do this is by building a low-carbon website. But what exactly does that mean? And how do you go about doing it? Let’s take a closer look.
Low-carbon website design
A starting point is to make sure the website is as slim and compressed as possible. Modern image formats have come a long way since JPGs, so you don’t need to compromise on quality! Here at Class, we use .webp which drastically reduces file size without sacrificing any visual fidelity or detail – making it perfect for our clients who want their sites fast but still look good enough that they’ll never know what hit them when browsing through pages.
Try to use elements that are already present on the page to save time and improve user experience. For example, you could opt to use Times New Roman font throughout your site because everyone has this available as a default in their computers – difficult to get signed off by a client!
Default HTML tags like <audio> for audio transcripts instead of designing something bespoke which could take more creativity away from designers who otherwise may not be aware they need help with accessibility features.
The behind-the scenes stuff is important too! We made sure our web host uses only 100% green energy making sure our data centre operates with high energy efficiency standards. Use a content delivery network (CDN) to serve your website content. CDNs use less energy than traditional web servers because they distribute the content across a network of servers around the world. Build your website as a static site, which means less requests for data from these servers. This helps keep carbon emissions low while still providing you with all the content on your page in an easy to navigate format – pretty cool huh?!
Think about how much energy your website is going to make the user’s device use. Darker websites use less electricity, because of modern screens and animations that increase processing power consumption on a computer or phone–even if you’re not looking at anything in particular! We avoided this problem with our own website by making the Class branding cleaner.
Conclusion
Low-carbon website design is a growing trend for businesses who want to reduce their environmental impact. It can be difficult to know where to start, but our team of experts are here to help. Arrange a call with Chris to learn more about our sustainable web development services and how we can help you go green!
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