Ecodesign a useful and measurable digital service
Ecodesign starts with the service provided: who uses it, for which task and with what alternatives? It continues through content, interfaces, data and operations. A lighter page can be an improvement, but page weight alone does not measure the service’s full footprint.
Photo: Markus Spiske / Unsplash · Context photograph; no affiliation with FDS is implied.
Check usefulness before adding a feature
Describe the task users need to complete and check whether it requires the proposed new service. Reusing an existing tool, improving a document or removing a step may avoid an unnecessary feature. Keep the reason for the choice and the limitations of the selected alternative.
Examine actual frequency, audiences and devices. Requiring recent equipment for a simple task excludes some users and may encourage replacement. Test the journey with modest capabilities and a constrained connection instead of assuming your own workstation represents all uses.
Reduce unnecessary steps and activity
Bring together the information needed for a decision and name links explicitly. Clear journeys avoid repeated searching and loading. Check error recovery too: unclear validation may force users to repeat an entire operation.
Limit automatic loading unless it has demonstrated value. Autoplay video, infinite feeds and persistent animation need a use-based justification. Give readers control and preserve keyboard access, textual alternatives and visual stability.
Match media to the information it conveys
Ask what an image or video teaches the reader. A diagram, table or text can sometimes convey the information with fewer resources and better accessibility. Where media is useful, compare its appearance, dimensions and compression at the actual display size.
Serve variants adapted to screen sizes, state dimensions and defer offscreen media where appropriate. Keep the principal image readily available. Removing essential information or compressing a chart until it becomes unreadable misses the objective.
Control data, scripts and external services
Inventory scripts, fonts, API calls and stored data. Identify an owner, purpose and removal option for each dependency. A tool added for an experiment should not become a permanent burden without an explicit decision.
Define appropriate cache and update rules. Avoid retransferring unchanged resources but verify that updated content appears correctly. Retention should serve a need and its constraints; do not keep everything simply because a future use might exist.
Compare the same service before and after
Choose a journey and reproducible conditions. Record transferred bytes, requests, response time, errors and task success. Compare versions that provide the same service: removing an essential step is not a functional improvement.
The French RGESN framework supports a broader review than these technical measures alone. Document the chosen criteria, examined evidence and limitations. Avoid mechanically translating page weight into emissions without an explicit method, scope and verifiable assumptions. Report improvements with evidence rather than an isolated score.
A record to keep with the decision
| Item | Evidence |
|---|---|
| Use | Actual task, audience and alternative assessed. |
| Journey | Necessary steps, recoverable errors and media controls. |
| Resources | Bytes, requests and dependencies, with a template-level budget. |
| Review | Same before/after scenario, documented benefit and limitations. |
Frequently asked questions
Is a fast website necessarily ecodesigned?
Speed supports experience but does not establish usefulness, restrained features or lifecycle control. Review use decisions and dependencies as well as loading time.
Should every image be removed?
No. Retain images that inform or help people decide, then adapt delivery. A useful map or explanatory diagram can avoid further searching and improve the journey.
Reference material
RGESN · Référentiel général d’écoconception
The practical checklist is an editorial synthesis to adapt to your service. It does not constitute a certification or an audit result.