Creating a website is no longer a purely technical or aesthetic exercise. In 2026, organisations are increasingly judged not just by what their websites do, but how they do it. Ethical web design has moved from a “nice to have” to a strategic consideration that affects trust, compliance, sustainability, and long-term value.
This guide explains how to build an ethical website, starting with what ethical web design actually means, why it matters, and steps you can take to build an ethical website as part of a modern web project.
What is Ethical Web Design?
Ethical web design is all about creating websites guided by clear ethical principles rather than convenience, trends, or short-term gains.
At its core, ethical web design prioritises:
- User needs - respecting users’ time, attention, privacy, and capabilities
- Sustainability – reducing unnecessary environmental impact
- Accessibility – ensuring people of all abilities can use your site
- Transparency – being clear about data usage, intent, and functionality
Rather than focusing solely on conversions or aesthetics, ethical web design considers the wider impact of digital products on people, society, and the environment.
Why design ethically?
Designing ethically doesn’t have to be about sacrificing performance or commercial outcomes. In practice, it often strengthens them.
By focusing on ethical web design, designers and developers can create websites that meet functional and business requirements while also contributing to a more inclusive, responsible, and sustainable digital ecosystem.
For organisations, this approach delivers tangible benefits:
- Increased trust and credibility with users and stakeholders
- Reduced legal and compliance risk, particularly around accessibility and privacy
- Improved usability and engagement, leading to better outcomes
- Stronger brand alignment with values-driven customers and partners
- Greater future resilience as regulations and expectations evolve
How to Build an Ethical Website: Steps you can take
An ethical website can’t be achieved through a single decision or tool. It is the result of a series of aligned choices made throughout your project lifecycle.
1. Plot your goals before choosing technology
The most common ethical failure in web projects happens at the very beginning.
Too often, organisations start with technology; choosing a Content Management System (CMS), a framework or a plugin stack before clearly defining what the website is meant to achieve. This frequently leads to compromised decisions and the use of incompatible tools that undermine user experience and ethics.
Start by defining:
- The purpose of this website
- Who it is for, and the problems it aims to solve
- The outcomes that matter (not just metrics)
- Finally, the tooling that will support this
Ethical web design aligns technology to intent, not the other way around.
2. Use open-source where possible
Open-source software is not automatically ethical, but it often aligns strongly with ethical principles when chosen carefully.
Benefits include:
- Greater transparency in how software works
- Reduced vendor lock-in and improved long-term control
- Strong community oversight and shared improvement
- Often lower environmental and financial cost
Where feasible, favour well-maintained open-source platforms and libraries over opaque, proprietary solutions that prioritise extraction over user benefit. For us, WordPress underpins all of our web solutions.
3. Plan around your users
Ethical websites are built with users in mind, not merely for them.
This means investing time in User Experience activities such as:
- User research and discovery
- Clear information architecture
- Intuitive navigation and predictable interactions
- Content that respects attention rather than manipulates it
You should also encourage user feedback and engagement, and treat it as a continuous input rather than a one-off exercise.
Ethical design recognises that real users are diverse, imperfect, and evolving when it comes to how to build an ethical website.
4. Design with responsibility
Design choices have ethical consequences, even when they seem minor.
Design for Power Consumption
Low energy-intensity design reduces environmental impact and often improves performance.
This includes:
- Avoiding unnecessary animations and heavy assets
- Optimising images and fonts
- Reducing JavaScript where possible
- Designing for speed and efficiency
Accessibility as standard
Accessibility is a core ethical responsibility. Designers should consider the additional needs of users with visual, auditory, cognitive, or motor impairments from the outset. Where possible, design to recognised standards such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
- Public sector organisations are required to meet WCAG2.2 Level AA
- Organisations doing business with the EU must consider the European Accessibility Act (EAA)
Even where not legally required, accessible design benefits everyone.
5. Evaluate your supply chain
An ethical website is only as ethical as the ecosystem that supports it.
This means assessing:
- Who is in your tech stack?
- What are their data practices and business models?
- Do their values align with your own approach to ethical technology?
Some ethical choices may require trade-offs in features or convenience, but they often result in greater alignment and long-term integrity.
You’ll also want to avoid common pitfalls associated with free and ‘easy-to-use’ integrations. One often-overlooked example is font APIs like Google Fonts. Designed to be easy to insert into a web project, the API captures the user’s IP address, which counts as Personally Identifiable Information and should require consent under GDPR. As such, self-hosting fonts is the safest way to go. It just goes to show that something as simple as fonts can have huge implications.
Ethical Pixels® has had to evaluate a number of different solutions over the years that work for us as designers and developers, that present suitable features for our clients, and put their best foot forward in areas like privacy, sustainability, positivity, accessibility and overall ethical business practices. We maintain an Ethical Tech Directory as a free resource based on our experiences, so when you’re considering how to build an ethical website, check out the directory for ideas.
6. Treat privacy as a design concern
Privacy shouldn’t be solely a matter of disclaimer text or compliance banners.
Consider:
- What telemetry do you actually need?
- Why are you collecting it?
- How will it be used, stored, and retained?
Many websites are still using tools like google analytics without first getting adequate user consent, and not doing anything with the data anyway. Others implement consent properly, but come up against the issue that the majority of users reject cookies and tracking anyway.
Where possible, we recommend using privacy-friendly analytics and tools that allow sensible, actionable reporting without the need for consent. This way you can capture data on 100% of your audience without annoying your users.
You must also take time to understand your responsibilities under GDPR to offer clear, informed choices. Particularly, include a clear option to reject non-essential tracking. Dark patterns have no place in ethical web design.
7. Choose sustainable hosting
Hosting infrastructure has a real environmental footprint. Where possible, select hosting providers powered by renewable or sustainable energy, with transparent reporting on efficiency and carbon impact.
The Green Web Foundation independently verifies hosts using renewable energy.
Ethical hosting is one of the simplest ways to reduce the environmental cost of a digital presence.
8. Preserve freedom and choice
Ethical websites respect autonomy.
This applies to:
- Users, by avoiding manipulative design, forced journeys, or unnecessary restrictions
- Administrators and editors, by providing systems that are usable, flexible, and not needlessly constrained
Where practical, ethical design enables choice rather than enforcing dependence.
Bringing it together
Learning how to build an ethical website in 2026 means recognising that every decision (technical, visual and organisational) has consequences.
Ethical web design:
- Builds trust instead of extracting it
- Creates value without exclusion
- Supports sustainability rather than ignoring it
- Aligns technology with human needs
Want to build a website ethically?
At Ethical Pixels®, ethical web design is not an add-on or marketing label. It is embedded in how projects are scoped, designed, built, and supported.
If you are planning a website that requires a considered, ethical approach, we can help.
Book a no-obligation consultation to discuss your project and explore what ethical web design could look like for your organisation.
