This Website

Inspired by the solar-powered website of Low Tech Magazine, I’ve been looking into the topic of energy efficiency on the Web.

Anyone who has ever stood in a data center can hear, see and smell the amounts of energy consumed by the operation of Internet services. In our everyday lives, we tend to ignore this aspect. Every click, every search, every image displayed generates a request on a server that is processed. If these requests become more economical and simpler, we can save a lot of energy.

In the context of this new personal website, I have experimented with tools, researched further and implemented some.

Convenience and sense

A father drives his 7-year-old daughter to school 200m away in a BMW X7. It’s very convenient and easy for both father and daughter. They arrive safely and comfortably. And they waste a lot of energy.

Via an all-in-one provider or a simple WordPress installation, we can publish a website and manage content without much knowledge today. This ease of access is a blessing. On the one hand.

At the same time, modern website systems have many functions running along in the background, needing processing power and generating data without the user or the provider ever needing them. They waste a lot of energy.

So, in essence, it’s about the compromise of generating only the necessary content and distributing it on the web, while not sacrificing ease of use in content and design. Creating content that affects someone and is compact. The biggest challenge is not technical: Creating content that makes sense.

By the time the garage door is open, by the time the seat belts are properly tightened, the girl has long since walked to school. That builds confidence, action space and fun. And saves energy. That makes sense.

Static = Blazing fast

When a website responds very quickly, it’s actually often a sign of smart technical architecture. In my case, I rely on a static website that consists only of ready-made HTML files, a CSS, a few Javascript files and a few (optimized) images. Most pages transfer like this well under 100KB and are loaded and displayed in less than 0.5 seconds. If you navigate this page, you’ll notice how great it feels.

To manage content easily (especially for multilingual or repeated content) I use Hugo, a Static Site Generator. With this software I manage the content of this website as simple text files and images in a familiar file system with directories. When I have made changes and updates, Hugo generates all pages and necessary components of the finished website with the content and my prefabricated layout. Images and other files are compressed to the minimum necessary. Afterwards, I publish the entire website with one click.

Little tricks

System fonts

Fonts are a wonderful design element. When you use web fonts (e.g. Google Fonts), you usually transfer quite a bit of data. Especially if you use multiple fonts or weights. In my layout, I only use system fonts that are already installed on your computer. This is also a nice typographic challenge (that I’m still tinkering with).

Data diet

Many websites store data (cookies, trackers, etc.) on the user’s computer and collect data on their behavior. Because they can. In most cases, the accruing data is not evaluated at all, or at least not by the actual provider. Data collected here would have statistically no significant statement and Google also does not need to know that you were here. In addition, you do not need to dismiss any cookie warning. That way, you’ll get here without a detour.

My email newsletter system is self-hosted and I control all personal data. Sent emails do not contain any trackers. I cannot (and do not want to) determine if, when and where you have seen an email or clicked on a link. In case you are surprised: Yes, this is what most of the newsletters we receive try to do!

As the operator of this website, I have a great responsibility in handling user data. The less data I hoard, the less data I have to manage and protect from malicious access. What I do not have, can not be stolen.

Still to do

SEO

I only want you to land here if my information is relevant to you. For that I need the help of search engines and the search engines need good, structured meta information about the content. Most of it is still missing.

Design and usability

A straightforward guide through content and navigation. Don’t want to waste your time and resources. This will be better.