tagged progressive enhancement in non-technical places # prev single next top
I like the idea of progressive enhancement.
what is it?
For the web, I think of it as:
a website should work with the simplest use-case, and any improvements should not break the basic behaviour
e.g,., someone should be able to submit a form on a website without using JavaScript. Progressive enhancement would be to make the user experience better (e.g., by not refreshing the whole page when the form is submitted, and only refreshing parts of it) but leave the original case working.
I find this usually has benefits that you didn't think of. For example, using semantic HTML makes your website work better on slow connections, on wacky browsers, with screen readers, et cetera. People with modern powerful browsers can enjoy your weird JavaScript animations and experimental layouts, but everyone can still use the website without these.
in non-technical areas
The idea has spread into non-technical parts of life too. I think it has similar benefits. For example, a non-technical opportunity that often fails progressive enhancement is shops/cafes/venues accepting card payment, while stopping to accept cash payments (card, here, being some way a metaphor for JavaScript).
What inspired me writing this today was seeing the holes on the top of the seats in trains, where conductors used to place tickets to designate which seat was reserved. The train had switched to using digital markers, but since the old slots were still there, had the digital system failed, there was always a fallback, which I thought was nice.
There are many, many other examples of "progressive enhancement not applied to websites". I leave it to you to find them.