Copy of some Draft Web Development Guidelines

Information to help understand the usefulness of a page should exist

Helping visitors avoid wasting their time can reduce the number of emissions from time spent in front of a screen. As such, by using existing technologies like metadata, robots.txt files, and accessibility-friendly aids within the page, improvements to the experience can be made.

Criteria: Metadata and microdata

Machine-testable

Metadata and microdata for search engines and social media have been optimized.

Resources

Criteria: Search engines

Machine-testable

Search engines are not obstructed, while ill-intentioned robots and scripts are blocked.

Resources

Criteria: Accessibility aids

Machine-testable

Accessibility and usability aids are provided to find content, such as skip links and signposts.

Resources

Impact: Low, Effort: Low

GRI Impact of Information to help understand the usefulness of a page should exist
GRI Impact
materials Low
energy Low
water Low
emissions Low
Benefits of this guideline
  • Environment: People spend a lot of time searching for the information they want, and helping them get there quicker will reduce the drain on their device battery.
  • Social Equity: Paradoxically as it may seem, the concept of getting people to spend more time on your website is not often beneficial. Visitors often want to accomplish a task and move on, yet we put great effort into keeping them on-site (time-wasting). This is a dark pattern that has consequences for sustainability (consumption of resources) and potentially the visitor's health and well-being.
  • Accessibility: Skip links and other aids can accelerate a visitor's journey through your website, reducing the system resources their tooling requires, and assist them in finding the content they need.
  • Performance: Finding information quickly is a perceived performance. It may not physically reduce the data transferred, but it will help reduce the steps required to achieve a goal; thus, the time on-screen is lessened.
  • Economic: Quick visits may encourage repeat custom when the visitor has limited spare time.
  • Conversion: A well-mapped website will index properly in search engines, leading to a good page rank.

Example

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