Sustainability - Best Practices
Last modified by Manuel Leduc on 2026/07/15 16:46
Initial forum discussion: https://forum.xwiki.org/t/moving-toward-sustainability-in-our-best-practices/13703
Reference sustainability guidelines: https://w3c.github.io/sustainableweb-wsg/
- User-Experience Design
- Web Development
- Hosting, Infrastructure, and Systems
- Business Strategy and Product Management
- Already applied
- Notes
User-Experience Design
| Section | Impact | Effort | Comment | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1 Identify, assess, disclose, review, and mitigate sustainability impacts | Medium | Medium | This action is very broad and seems to require a big time investment. This should probably be handled by Sponsoring companies. | Postponed |
| 2.2 Understand user requirements or constraints | Medium | Medium | TODO:
| |
| 2.3 Integrate sustainability into every stage of the ideation process | Low | Low | TODO:
| |
| 2.4 Design efficient and streamlined user journeys | Medium | Medium | TODO:
| |
| 2.5 Design to assist and not to distract | Medium | Low | Already done in practice, we need to validate if we want to make it even more explicit and where. An easy option is to add a sustainability best practices page and to mention it there. | TODO: Add "distraction-free" in the best practices explicitly. |
| 2.6 Avoid being manipulative or deceptive | High | Medium | Proposal needed | |
| 2.8 Use a design system for interface consistency | Low | Medium | We do this in practice, but we need to link to the documentation stating it explicitly. | Documentation check needed |
| 2.9 Optimize media to reduce resource use | High | Medium | Rating carried over from former 2.7 "Avoid Unnecessary or an Overabundance of Assets". | Proposal needed |
| 2.10 Ensure animation is proportionate and easy to control | Low | Low | XWiki uses little animation; mostly a matter of verifying prefers-reduced-motion support. | |
| 2.11 Use optimized web typography | Low | Low | We mostly rely on system fonts already. | |
| 2.12 Avoid unwanted notifications | Medium | Medium | XWiki has a rich notification/watch system; default settings (auto-watch, mail frequency) drive real resource usage. | |
| 2.13 Reduce the impact of downloadable and physical documents | Low | Low | Mainly concerns our export features (PDF/office) and attachments. | |
| 2.14 Involve users early in the project | High | Medium | ||
| 2.15 Audit and test for bugs or issues requiring resolution | Medium | Low | Largely covered by existing QA/CI practices; mostly needs mapping to documentation. | |
| 2.16 Validate usability through testing and real-world usage | Medium | Medium | ||
| 2.17 Cross-platform compatibility support | Medium | Low | Supporting older browsers/devices fights terminal obsolescence; we already maintain a documented support strategy. |
Web Development
Hosting, Infrastructure, and Systems
Business Strategy and Product Management
Already applied
Notes
Based on W3C Group Note Draft, 2026-07-03
