4. Streamlining the user experience
The more time a user spends on a website to accomplish a task, the higher the environmental footprint. Though this is self-evident, it quickly becomes apparent that many websites are not designed to shorten the user journey. Indeed, some economic models built upon capturing users' attention or increasing the value of the average cart (among others) run counter to efforts to improve the user experience. And a user experience that is not streamlined will often have a higher environmental footprint. An eco-design approach once again converges with best practices on attention economics.
In that context, it is also essential to question our design habits, as this article from Low Tech Lab proposes, Making a low-tech site:
Web design and web development have been massively influenced by Big Tech models. [...] It is therefore important not to follow design trends, but rather to question them, and to carefully define what is actually necessary for the project.
Questions to be answered
- What is the functional unit?
- How many steps does it take to accomplish it?
- Is this user journey accessible?
- How can I increase the conversion rate by making the user journey shorter?
Streamlined browsing
Functional unit: Find information about taxation
Though it is sometimes difficult to find information on some administrative websites, the British government's site (gov.uk) provides a plain, clear and straightforward browsing experience.
For instance, to find information about tax breaks, the path is simple:
It takes only four steps.
Each page of the journey has an EcoIndex score of A or B.The environmental footprint is therefore minimal compared to many other sites of the same type.
RGSEN Criterion 4.3
Optimizing the user journey for each key feature would fulfill the recommendations of Criterion 4.3 of the General Repository for the Eco-design of Digital Services (Référentiel Général de l'Ecoconception des Services Numériques - RGESN).
See the repository (French)
3. Assessing and measuring