Lesson 16Tools to check your website sustainability score

Notion 100

How to check for other web sustainability metrics

Target skills

Discover the use of tools that assess a website for other sustainability metrics to improve its overall performace.

The importance of checking for other sustainability metrics

Thus far, we’ve discussed two metrics that need to be evaluated for sustainable web design: CO2 emissions and energy consumption, as well as green web hosting. However, improving a website’s sustainability does not stop there. It is possible to go even further with web sustainability by using other automated tools.

These tools suggest measures for faster loading times, more optimised content, and mobile compatibility. They also check for the presence of Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), which save electricity by shortening the physical distance between users and web servers. For more information on how CDNs work, please refer to Notion 14: Grain 91 of this module.

All tools mentioned in this grain encourage fine-tuning the technical aspects of websites for increased performance, making them both more sustainable and user-friendly.

External tools for checking for other sustainability metrics

The functionalities of these tools are similar, and each has the overarching aim to improve the technical performance of websites. The tools vary according to the metrics that they target.

Tools dedicated to optimising page speed and content and for checking the presence of CDNs:

Google PageSpeed Insights: https://pagespeed.web.dev/
Pingdom Website Speed Test: https://tools.pingdom.com/
WebPageTest by Catchpoint: https://www.webpagetest.org/
GTmetrix: https://gtmetrix.com/

All of the tools above offer suggestions for improving these sustainability metrics. A website that loads and responds to user requests more quickly has the added benefit of improving SEO. For more in-depth information on how good SEO practices can improve web sustainability, refer to Notion 12 of this module.

Tools dedicated to optimising websites for mobile-first design:

As noted in Notion 10 of this module, embracing mobile-first design is a crucial web sustainability practice. The two tools below run a mobile usability test, helping designers and creators visualise how their content looks on smaller screens. They also offer recommendations for adopting mobile-friendly design techniques.