I’m particularly interested about the concept of digital sustainability, as it blends my professional life with my personal passion for conservation. It’s a perfect way to bridge my day job with the nature-focused work that I love.
Hello, I’m Chris, a freelance web developer since 1996. I was fortunate enough to witnessed the World Wide Web in its infancy and to have participated in its evolution.
In the early years of my career, the cornerstone of web development was simplicity and optimisation. Everyone was connected to the Internet via dial-up connections, which offered a very limited bandwidth. This context required websites to be designed in a way that would make them lightweight and highly optimised. Additionally, website hosting was quite expensive at the time, with limited storage capacities. I vividly remember having to fit updates to the Glaxo Wellcome travel intranet onto 3.5″ floppy disks.
Then came the Web 2.0 revolution, a period marked by a drastic change in the way websites were created and used. This era, hallmarked by dynamic content, user interactivity, and social networking capabilities, also ushered in a new norm for website design—bloat and the excessive use of animations. Unfortunately, the faster connection speeds, instead of improving the user experience, were negated by this ever-increasing complexity and size of websites.
However, I am glad to see that we’re now experiencing a return to the principles of simplicity and optimisation that marked the early days of the web. The industry is maturing, and with it, the awareness of the need for efficient and accessible web design is growing.
I have always held the firm belief that good development practices lead to websites that are easier to manage, faster to load, and more accessible to a broader audience. An added benefit of this approach, which has been gaining recognition recently, is the sustainability of well-developed sites. If we give careful consideration to the content used and ensure buy-in from the client, we can make websites much more sustainable in the digital sense.
Aside from my passion for web development, I also have a deep love for nature and conservation. For many years, I have volunteered in various conservation projects. The past four years have seen me help run a local nature reserve in Bedford, an experience that has been fantastic.
I’m particularly interested about the concept of digital sustainability, as it blends my professional life with my personal passion for conservation. It’s a perfect way to bridge my day job with the nature-focused work that I love.
If you’re looking for a development partner, someone to brainstorm with, or just need advice on sustainable digital practices, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m here to help and would love to contribute to shaping the web in a more sustainable way.
