Edit: I had a whole post ready on progressive enhancement vs graceful degradation, but somehow adding a caption to a tomato image erased the entire content. So… updated. Gracefully. Progressively. Enhancing my degradation.
I’m still shooting for the WAS exam on March 10th, during CSUN 2020. Now that my work colleagues and I are all remote, consider it one of few opportunities to get together. I still need likely 100 hours of studying, but we’ll see. This week in my study flow: Accessibility Support; choosing accessibility techniques that are well-supported.
Today’s topic: graceful degradation vs progressive enhancement.
graceful degradation…
- building to the most/more modern browser while “degrading gracefully”, or reducing the complexity, for older browser types with simpler styling.
- Looking back and giving an alternative after something is not available
- Assume that most people will have JavaScript enabled, CSS, and images.
I’m just going to state right off the bat I’m not keen on this one even before considering the alternative. Using “degradation” as a positive verb is like saying “homely” is a great way to describe your (all-female) family. It could be interpreted as simple but cozy “of the home”, but since I’m in the US that means at best “plain” and at worst “ugly”. I can’t stop thinking of very old ballerinas or sophisticated movement of a slow-motion landslide. Like digital content, I’m sure these are lovely in specific contexts but are also very likely going to result in a crash.
versus progressive enhancement:
So ok, to be fair I didn’t explore much on the other category. But it’s my blog. So here’s more details on the better option.
- Basic content should be accessible to all web browsers
- Basic functionality should be accessible to all web browsers
- Sparse, semantic markup contains all content
- Enhanced layout is provided by externally linked CSS
- Enhanced behavior is provided by externally linked JavaScript that it unobtrusive (functionality and content are separate)
- End-user browser preferences are respected…
- … looking forward (up?) with a firm hold on the ground
Progressive enhancement at its core is about separating structure and content from semantics, presentation, and behavior. It grew out out of a recognition that graceful degradation, or the idea that you build to the most current browser and allow them to remain “presentable” with older browsers, relied on the assumption that new browsers were always going to be faster and more powerful…. and a lingering air of condescension. Enter the PDA or smartphone, which has varying levels of bandwidth to bring this theory down a couple notches, but also the release into the great beyond of some of the truly really old browsers (Windows 1?). Is MS-DOS still a thing?
The case for accessibility on this one is strong because the semantic markup of progressive enhancement integrates the awareness of assistive tools, and various user technical combinations, to get to digital content and orient themselves correctly regardless of their browser or mobile/web interaction. It also seems to make the planning a bit more practical before even getting to an end user scenario. Yes, there is more up-front investigating (ie for a print feature – understanding that some people don’t have JavaScript enabled, what should we design and develop to communicate something is printable?). But then you have a product that is designed for end users as they are, not as developers want them to be.
Another cool handy term i learned from this: unobtrusive JavaScript. I’ve seen it in code and just thought that coding process was like an If/Then formula. But it’s actually a thoughtful ideology: To make sure that your scripts do not inconvenience anyone, you should make sure your scripts do not make any assumptions. Example:
Thank you for your order. Please print this page for your records.
In summary:
GD: I think of an apologetic hotel desk person; the features online are not always available in the hotel… or at the guest’s pay rate… so at that point they do their best to accommodate, but may look down their noses while doing so?
PE; Picture… Food? I think of a Subway sandwich with a variety of options that start as a base sandwich type and you can add layers later that can be removed relatively easily, rather than a prix fixe meal already prepared and someone saying they will die from the nuts.
https://www.w3.org/wiki/Graceful_degradation_versus_progressive_enhancement
Viewpoints from the Horizon 