Progressive Enhancement with CSS
In the last issue of A List Apart (No. 269) Aaron Gustafson wrote an article titled Understanding Progressive Enhancement which I thought was brilliant. Particularly because I’ve beaten my head against the corporate tree on this issue several times before, in several corporate environments. On the one hand the managers see a potentially valuable idea but on the other they appear to be transfixed by the myth of cross browser pixel perfection. Let’s face it, there are more screen sizes and resolutions out there from tiny mobiles to whopping great flat screens – pixel perfection? Seriously? But what we can do is work smarter and provide enhanced experiences for those browsers capable of the bonus.
And, in all seriousness, do you know anyone (NOT a web developer) who opens a specific website in multiple browsers and compares them for pixel perfection?
Back to Aaron’s series. This month in A List Apart (No. 270) his article Progressive Enhancement with CSS really does deliver some excellent pointers including stylesheet organisation, working with alternate media types, handling the Internet Explorer issue and touching on advanced ways you can provide progressive enhancement (and it’s flip-side cousin graceful degradation). This is exactly the resource that can be printed out and taken to strategy meetings, too. The undeniable clout of A List Apart’s reputation makes it a perfect conduit for disseminating these ideas and techniques.
And, in the process of redesigning here (at least with paper sketches) the article definately extended my knowledge. A must read article for CSS designers.
October 24th, 2008 at 2:34 am
I’m glad you’re enjoying the series. Thanks for the kind comments.
October 24th, 2008 at 8:12 am
Hi Aaron, always enjoy your articles on ALA. I’ve had major struggles in the past trying to even get the concept over to management. And, while I knew about half of what was in your article, the other half was new to me. Thanks.