2.6 Create a Lightweight Experience by Default

When providing the option to download, save, print, or access anything online, defaulting to the most lightweight, least featureful version will reduce emissions through passive browsing; with non-essential information removed from the screen either to be shown when it’s required or eliminated.

Criteria

Efficient Paths: The path taken to access the service (the initial contact with the website or service) should be as efficient and as simple as possible (time required to complete an action displayed, reducing too much choice, ensuring visitors know what’s required at the start of a complex set of steps, etc).
Patterns For Efficiency: The users journey (when browsing an accessed website or service) should be as smooth as possible. User-research is key, as is building on established design patterns that people already understand.
Distraction-Free Design: Visitors can complete tasks without distractions or non-essential features getting in the way.
Eliminate The Non-Essential: Visitors see only information that is relevant to their experience, without non-essential information being displayed on the screen.
User-Initiated Actionable Content: Ensure that actionable information such as pop-up or modal windows can only be initiated by the visitor.

Impact

Medium

Effort

Medium

Benefits

Environmental:
Streamlining a user-experience to remove barriers and non-essential items (which eliminates waste from code and content) reduces the amount of time visitors spend on their devices trying to complete tasks or find information. This reduces the amount of energy used and lowers emissions.
Privacy:
Collecting less information by hiding non-essential features will be beneficial for data protection as you can reduce how much information is presented to the visitor and, in turn, how much is exposed to a minimum (if any is needed during the experience).
Social Equity:
Lightweight experiences work better for people with older devices, those who live in low-bandwidth environments, and so on. The benefits for lower-powered devices are that fewer emissions will be generated, as the device’s reduced capabilities will often have lower energy requirements.
Accessibility:
Intuitive, lightweight user-experiences that are easy to understand improve accessibility, especially for people with cognitive disabilities, and will benefit sustainability in terms of less confusion which could impact the time spent on websites trying to find content.
Performance:
Displaying less information on the screen by reducing the amount of content until it is necessary will naturally reduce bandwidth consumption over the lifecycle of a product or service, and may make an experience feel faster.
Economic:
Lower data payloads resulting from reducing visitor choices and simplifying an interface by reducing the amount of information can help reduce the burden of choice and convince visitors during the decision-to-purchase process.
Conversion:
Busy websites with too much information laid out haphazardly will lead to confusion and abandonment. Following conventions and patterns with a clean, distraction-free layout will reduce churn, page abandonment, and barriers to entry.

GRI

materials: Medium
energy: Medium
water: Medium
emissions: Medium

Example

The example shown for this airline check-in page shows how performance by default can benefit visitors.

Resources

View the Guideline