Ethics

Preamble

I take up a strong stance on ethical behavior in general and ethical web development in particular. The following positions are by no means complete and will be expanded over time.

Key principles

Everyone is equal

There must not be any distinction based on gender, color, language, birth, social origin, or whatever “category” comes to mind.

Accessibility is obligatory

There is no debate whether something should be accessible or not – it has to be.

Force is an absolute last resort

Lethal or non-lethal, it does not matter, conflicts have to be solved peacefully.

Development-specific principles

Pay the maintainers

Open-source software is free to use, but that does not mean it is free to make. Businesses that make money using open-source projects should contribute back – be it financially or by allocating developer time.

Alternatives to Google Analytics

Please stop feeding tech giants with even more data about literally every person that dares to use a web browser. You can self-host Matomo or Umami, or use privacy-focused analytics providers like Fathom or Plausible.

Deceptive design is shady at best

Deceptive design actively harms the user experience and deceives those who are not aware of these patterns. The web is a friendlier place if you are honest with your intentions.

This is also known as “dark patterns” which is a problematic term.

Open source license

I am in the process of migrating all my Open Source projects to the Hippocratic License. This license is based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Global Compact.