Reuben Digital's website is a good example of sustainable web design. It respects the principles of the Sustainable Web Manifesto - of being clean, efficient, open, honest, regenerative and resilient.
When DESIGNING this website, we considered the following:
- Writing in an accessible, easy to understand format with no content 'bloat'
- Clean design - not cluttered by unnecessary images and assets that make page loading slower
- Simple and intuitive navigation
- Use of simple fonts, already installed by default on most computers, so avoiding unnecessary HTTP requests
- Limited colours and background styles, also chosen with accessibility principles in mind
When BUILDING this website, we considered the following:
- Reduced reliance on third-party plugins to limit unnecessary code bloat
- Implemented lazy loading for images, ensuring off-screen images only load when needed
- Replaced JPG and PNG images with scalable vector illustrations and icons to reduce file size
- Switched to vector-based backgrounds to minimize large image downloads
- Further reduced vector images file size with optimisation tools
- Chose a lightweight, efficient web framework to reduce network request sizes
- Minified CSS, JavaScript, and HTML files to speed up page load times
- Enabled browser caching for static assets to reduce server requests
- Optimized font loading to prevent layout shifts during page rendering
- Use of a single variable font across the site to reduce number and size of requests
Ray Stephens
Passionate about internet technologies and innovation, Ray established his first internet services business in 1999 offering high-end expertise to charities and SMEs. His primary role at Reuben is to share his vision and knowledge of the internet and technology, helping clients create sustainable websites and digital business strategies.