School website sustainability is a hot topic at the moment and one that all businesses and schools should be aspiring to in some of their processes.
When discussing school website sustainability, many would think of key issues such as carbon emissions and cutting back on un-environmentally friendly products such as plastic. Whilst these concepts are important when addressing concerns over the environment, it is also paramount to consider how to be digitally sustainable. But what does it mean to be digitally sustainable and why should you care?
Digital sustainability refers to utilising the abilities of digital transformation such as connectivity and the Internet of Things (physical objects with sensors, processing abilities, software and other technology that connects with other devices over the internet or other communication networks) to better the environment and promote sustainable business operations.
Collectively, the web accounts for 3.7% of ALL greenhouse gas emissions. This is equivalent to the entire global aviation industry. If every adult in the UK sent one less “thank you” email per day, it would cut 16 tons of carbon each year. Research has shown that 65% consumers are prepared to embrace the internet as a way to reduce their carbon footprint.
We are working with a number of schools who have specified that they would like their websites to be as sustainable as possible, and as a school website design company, we are always looking for ways to make our websites more digitally sustainable. Here are some of the key things we think should be taken into consideration when creating a digitally sustainable website:
Design Layout
A website without a clear navigation structure will increase the amount of time users spend clicking around trying to find the information they require. By optimising your website and incorporating dedicated landing pages, users are less likely to spend time searching through your website, consequently using less carbon. The more pages a viewer has to navigate, the more server requests made and therefore the more energy needed to use your website. Ensure you set a clear, logical navigation structure to your website to reduce energy consumption.
Minify the language you use to code your school website
A website is made up of a collection of code to make it look and work the way it does. Google and other search engines ‘read’ this code and determine where your website should appear in their indexes for a search. Minifying the language used in your website’s code removes unnecessary and redundant data, and therefore reduces the size of the file. This means the energy required to browse the website will decrease, and in turn this will also reduce load times this will have a positive impact on your school website sustainability
Optimise the images used on your school website
High-resolution images look great on a website, but unfortunately, they are one of the biggest time and energy consumers. Optimising the images used on your website can help reduce file sizes and consequently energy used whilst improving web performance. Pixels require power to appear on a screen, so the less pixels the better! Lazy loading is a technique that only loads images when users want to see them, meaning only images that are visible to the viewer on the page will load. This method is very useful in terms of reducing the HTTP request and the energy used in data transfer, resulting in a more ecologically conscious website.
Reduce the amount of plugins on your school website
A plugin is a software add-on that is installed on a programme to enhance its capabilities and allow for the customisation of computer programmes, apps, web browsers and content. These can include things such as images, sounds, videos, and animations. Plugins are programmed into the PHP language which is triggered when a user browses the website and uses its features consuming data and energy. By cutting down the amount of plugins on your website, you will reduce the amount of energy required, making it more sustainable whilst also boosting performance.
Host your videos on another platform
Incorporating videos on a website is an impactful marketing strategy but can put significant strain on a website’s energy consumption which can have a negative impact on your school website sustainability. Most people choose one of three options to incorporate a video on their website.
1. Host their video on their own website – this is the least digitally sustainable option as it uses a substantial chunk of energy and will have a significant impact.
2. Upload the video to another platform such as YouTube or Vimeo (to name a few) – this allows you to embed the video onto your website without the energy strain of hosting it. Which site to host it on depends on the goal of your video, but this is the most digitally sustainable option. Embedding videos using our CMS is both quick and easy.
3. Use a video enterprise platform – these tend to be prohibited by cost.
Creating a digitally sustainable school website doesn’t have to be difficult. Following these simple solutions are a good starting point. The key to a digitally sustainable website is simplicity and minimalism. That doesn’t mean a completely black and white website with no pictures, it means only including what is most important and removing anything else. All of these tactics will not just improve the digital sustainability of your website, they will improve user experience and traffic, too.
It can be hard to believe that a website can produce so much CO2 emissions that these changes will have an impact, but it is important to remember that the small changes do add up, especially when billions of people are using the internet daily. If you want help redesigning your website to be more digitally sustainable or want a brand new website created that will have a low carbon footprint, get in touch with our wonderful, friendly team today for more information.