A resource by James Christie for SustainableUX.com Last updated 11/17/2023

This is a cheat-sheet for the Web Sustainability Guidelines from the W3C. It is NOT a substitute for the real thing. Any errors are mine.

Note on organization: I’ve added my own organizational scheme to the guidelines, loosely by imagined project phase.

Links

Sustainable Web Manifesto

Full WSG guidelines

SECTION 2 of the WSG: User experience design

The checkboxes are the success criteria.

PROJECT START / RESEARCH

• 2.1 Undertake Systemic Impacts Mapping
• 2.2 Assess and Research Visitor Needs
• 2.3 Research Non-Visitor's Needs
• 2.4 Consider Sustainability in Early Ideation
• 2.5 Account for Stakeholder Issues
• 2.24 Create a Stakeholder-Focused Testing & Prototyping Policy
• 2.26 Analyze The Performance Of The Visitor Journey

DESIGN APPROACH

• 2.6 Create a Frictionless Lightweight Experience by Default
• 2.8 Respect the Visitor's Attention
• 2.10 Use Recognized Design Patterns
• 2.11 Avoid Manipulative Patterns
• 2.20 Provide Accessible, Usable, Minimal Web Forms
• 2.21 Support Non-Graphic Ways To Interact With Content
• 2.22 Give Useful Notifications To Improve The Visitor's Journey

MANAGE DATA USE

• 2.14 Write With Purpose, in an Accessible, Easy To Understand Format
• 2.7 Avoid Unnecessary or an Overabundance of Assets
• 2.15 Image Assets
• 2.16 Media Assets
• 2.17 Take a More Sustainable Approach to Animation
• 2.18 Typefaces
• 2.19 Provide Suitable Alternatives to Web Assets
• 2.23 Reduce the Impact of Downloadable or Physical Documents

GOVERNANCE

• 2.12 Document and Share Project Outputs
• 2.25 Conduct Regular Audits, Regression, and Non-Regression Tests
• 2.27 Incorporate Value Testing Into Each Major Release-Cycle
• 2.28 Incorporate Usability Testing Into Each Minor Release-Cycle
• 2.29 Incorporate Compatibility Testing Into Each Release-Cycle

Hosting, Infrastructure and Systems

Coming soon.

Web development

Soon coming.