A presentation at Smashing Conference in in Freiburg, Germany by Hidde de Vries
Five essential ingredients of a web that serves us all Hidde de Vries, Web You Want, 17 April 2026
(here in personal capacity)
2004
We need t to be i Sustainable
“Hold ng the ncrease n the global average temperature to well below 2°C” – Paris Agreement, 2.1.a i T i T i https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/NL/ X /?uri=CELEX:22016A1019(01)
T IC emissions > aviation emissions
“If the nternet was a country t th would be the 13 largest em tter between Mex co and Braz l” – Sustainable Web Manifesto i i i i i T (based on CO2 emissions in Our World in Data vs I emissions data from Green Web Foundation)
International Energy Agency,
International Energy Agency,
Eemshaven, the Netherlands
Middenmeer, the Netherlands 110 hectare / 271 acres
the web has a footprint, that we can reduce at work
t af Dr i Web Susta
t af Dr 6 principles 92 guidelines 253 success criteria 100+ contributors
User E Hosting, Infrastructure &S y y v x Business Strateg
T A Dutch C
i A Dutch C
41KB
13.2MB and yes, I accepted cookies, so the number includes ads
website size is a choice
websitecarbon.com
training.linuxfoundation.org/training/green-software-for-practitioners-lfc131
We need t to be i Ethical
bbc.com/news/technology-56135817
“people n the Web development commun ty [should] be eth cally and morally aware of what they [are] do ng” i i i i T – Sir im Berners-Lee, in: Weaving the Web (1999)
npm install ethics
Ethics how to act? what to do?
Ethics what matters? how to balance values?
Ethical principles Respect for human d gn ty Expl cab l ty Harm prevent on Fa rness i T T i i i i i i From fundamental rights ( EU reaty, Charter of Fundamental Rights) to ethical principles. From: Ethics Guidelines for rustworthy AI, door de High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence (2019).
The web can cause harm
i i i The web can d scr m nate
i i i The web s full of nexpl cable content
vasilis.nl/clocks/about/en
✔ Do not not collect all my data
w3.org/TR/ethical-web-principles
“Ethics aside…”
“Ethics aside…”
We need t to be i Accessible
i i i i i St ll lots of naccess b l ty
Websites with sticky elements that cover everything when zoomed aren’t accessible codepen.io/hidde/pen/PovjPYV
Websites with FAQs that aren’t reachable by just a keyboard aren’t accessible codepen.io/hidde/pen/ExzXVmb
Websites with important election results in an image with no alternatives aren’t accessible
// features that do some accessibility // semantics for you, like popover I am popover content <button popovertarget=”p”> Open popover </button> <div popover id=”p”> I am popover content </div>
Chromium Blog, Updates to form controls and focus blog.chromium.org/2020/03/updates-to-form-controls-and-focus.html
Chromium Blog, Updates to form controls and focus blog.chromium.org/2020/03/updates-to-form-controls-and-focus.html
Contrast warnings in Gutenberg, for WordPress Checks in Editoria11y v2, for Drupal (Based on Sa11y)
No-mouse demos
We need t to be i Fun
squoosh.app
wakamaifondue.com
You may have fun on the web
We need t to be i Ours
i Too much of the web belongs to corporat ons
Can I use the C-word?
i 401(K) 2012 on fl ckr
400 Invent on of algor thm c t mel nes 300 200 100 0 i i i i i How reasonable human beings are, over time
polarisation
i They dec de the features
i i I l ke to l nk places
They spy
vk.nl
vk.nl
github.blog/news-insights/company-news/no-cookie-for-you
i They can force the r values
More lobby than energy + pharma comb ned i T T Money spent yearly on Brussels lobby in euros. Source: he EU’s Lobby League able (Corporate Europe)
i i i i “It’s ncred ble to be among everyone here, part cularly you and the f rst lady.
i i i They remove the ncent ve to have your own webs tes
75% 50% 25% i 0% i i 100% People who have someth ng nterest ng to say
100% 75% 50% 25% i i 0% People who know how to post content on the r own s te
i i We need eas er ways to publ sh on the web
i i i Publ sh on your own s te f rst
hidde.blog
We must make and keep the web Sustainable Ethical Accessible Fun Ours
We must make and keep the web Sustainable Check your site and start making it smaller
We must make and keep the web Ethical Embrace ethics in your process, it matters!
We must make and keep the web Accessible Use platform features, CMSes an design systems
We must make and keep the web Fun Watch CSS Day videos to learn what’s possible
We must make and keep the web Ours Publish on your places before publishing anywhere else
hidde.blog/slides Thank you! Fonts: Bild and Bungee by David Jonathan Ross. Inspiration: Emily Bender, Karen Hao, Timnit Gebru, Tim Berners-Lee, Bruce Lawson.
The web is for everyone. That was the promise in 1994, and it held up for long. For years, we’ve been using the web to make money, do admin, watch cat gifs, and share what we want with the whole world. Fast forward to 2026: issues of speed, access, dullness are emerging on the platform. Does the web still serve us all?
In this talk, you’ll learn more about what we could improve, with practical tips on building the web to make it more sustainable, ethical, accessible, fun, and, last but not least, ours.
