Grace

Wednesday the 4th of April, 2007

Graceful degradation.

Innocuous little phrase, isn’t it?

If one takes a moment to consider it, however, the idea can be taken to it’s logical conclusion: ‘You (or your browser) are incapable of handling the full experience we want to present, so here’s a cut-down version.’

At its core, the mere concept of ‘graceful degradation’ belies a lack of respect for one’s users and, more critically, a fundamental misunderstanding of the medium in which we work.

The fundamental building block of the web is not JavaScript. Nor is it CSS. If your user experience relies on either of these, rather than features native to HTML, then that user experience is fundamentally flawed for use on the web.

The key is to design user interactions with naught but HTML’s base features in mind, later using CSS and JavaScript to enhance that experience (most likely streamlining it or making it more efficient). Done right, this enhancement can even be done in progressive levels, based on the availability of given features in the browser.

As a community, we coin phrases with nary a thought to deeper connotations these might have. Under scrutiny, the idea of ‘graceful degradation’ simply doesn’t align with user-centric design and development.

Progressive enhancement it is, then.