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Discussion on: What are your thoughts on eco-friendly web design?

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andypiper profile image
Andy Piper

I'll admit that this is not something I've really thought very much about. Is this primarily related to the web hosting - are there other elements that significantly contribute to the eco-friendliness or sustainability in web design?

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gift_tanakan profile image
Gift_Tanakan

Hi Andy! Yes! A big part of it relates to a web hosting provider. Ideally, to make a website more sustainable, go with a green web host, where it runs data centers with renewable energy. But that's not the only thing we can do. If we can't migrate to a different host, we can focus on optimizing other web components to keep the site lean and clean. Our goal is to reduce the energy consumption as much as possible. Examples of things we can do include avoid or reduce embedded videos or disable autoplay, optimize and reduce image size, reduce JavaScript dependence or heavy frameworks, stick with system fonts, use lazy loading function, etc. I believe you already adopt some of these practices because most of the times sustainable design intersects with designing for fast-loading, high-performance websites :)

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andypiper profile image
Andy Piper

Got it, thanks for the clarifications! Yes, definitely want to keep things lean and quick where possible. I guess there could be a difficult set of choices around visual flair and functionality in order to maintain that.

Do you have specific hosts that you prefer or recommend, what sort of questions should we ask or should we look for / how can we find better options there?

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gift_tanakan profile image
Gift_Tanakan

What you said about visual elements on the website is true! Could be difficult to decide what to keep, what not.

Now, I'm using Dreamhost for all of my sites. It's decent in my opinion and is one of the green hosting providers. You can view the list of
The Green Hosting Directory right here. Someone in sustainable web design space suggested that Kualo is also a great choice.

For questions around green hosts, I find this Wholegrain's article very helpful. They're a leader when it comes to sustainable web design.

Thanks for your comment and questions! It's great to know that some people care :)