2.29 Incorporate Compatibility Testing Into Each Release-Cycle

Compatibility is a critical part of the sustainability mindset and should be prioritized through all products and services. If individuals wish to use older devices (or cannot upgrade due to cost) or do not wish to upgrade as frequently, it will reduce the amount of e-waste that enters the system. If something doesn’t work, it’s also likely to result in visitors suffering a wasted effort, potentially leading to refused access to your service (and thereby emitting further emissions).

Criteria

Compatibility Policy: A compatibility policy with obsolete devices and software versions, listing the supported devices brands, operating systems, and browsers (including versions) has been established.
Maintaining Compatibility: Planned obsolescence in software updates is routinely avoided, striving to maintain compatibility for as long as possible and clearly communicating whether an update is evolutionary (large updates that can significantly reduce performance) or corrective (smaller updates that fix bugs or improve security).
Frequent Testing: The product or service regularly tests with weak connections, old browsers, and devices older than five years to ensure compatibility.
Mobile Friendly: Mobile-first methods and interfaces are prototyped to ensure progressive enhancement, content prioritization, and improved accessibility.
Progressive Web Applications (PWAs): A PWA has been either chosen or rejected based on whether it be more sustainable and compatible over a native mobile application.

Impact

High

Effort

Medium

Benefits

Environmental:
Incompatible websites and applications across the Web encourage people to purchase new devices, which has a giant impact on the environment due to the amount of e-waste it produces. Additionally, planned obsolescence is one of the biggest contributors to e-waste on the planet. Extending the lifespan and improving digital device compatibility within your site’s service plan, can improve sustainability and slow the upgrade cycle which results from sluggish digital experiences.
Social Equity:
More compatible products and services that last longer helps to reduce the digital divide, which can be a key issue in cases where income inequality, infrastructure robustness, and other factors play their part (and open your work to new markets). Similarly, because progressive web applications use established web standards, they are available to more people than more cost-prohibitive closed systems (Apple App Store, Google Play, etc).
Accessibility:
The fourth pillar of Accessibility is robustness. By incorporating accessibility into early prototypes, it becomes a priority for project teams throughout a product’s lifecycle. Broken source code can also (in specific cases) impact assistive technologies (such as screen readers) and how they can read content to individuals with visual disabilities. Ensuring semantic code can provide an equal, error-free experience to all.
Performance:
Incompatible code has an energy cost, when it’s non-standard, deprecated or doesn’t work on a device it can take additional time to render as it is usually un-optimized for the environment, which will put pressure on the CPU and waste the consumer’s battery. Using modern Web standards will help your website run fast in modern browsers.
Economic:
Product teams benefit from time savings and improved quality, organizations see cost reductions as less refactoring is required due to increased stability, and users benefit from greater trust and potentially lower product costs and maintenance fees as upgrades may not be required as frequently.
Conversion:
More compatible products and services that last longer can potentially increase conversion rates due to the lower rates of abandonment and a wider market audience that can use a barrier-free version of the product or service.

GRI

materials: High
energy: High
water: High
emissions: High

Example

Progressive Web Application Builder.

Resources

View the Guideline