I wrote an article in May called “What’s the Right Way to Update?” that covered the updating procedure for various software and how it can be improved so that users have the latest version.
Having the latest version of software can be very important due to the fact that technology is updated at a fairly fast rate. Using a copy of software from six or so years ago can mean a lot in terms of what it can do and how you interact with it.
For website developers, the target audience could very well be using a range of Web browsers that were last updated as far back as 9 years ago or as recently as an hour ago.
This is where the concepts of “graceful degradation” and “progressive enhancement” come in.
What is “Graceful Degradation?”
Graceful degradation is a development term that means a site is built to the latest standards, yet it still works for anyone using an old Web browser. Not everything will work exactly the same in the old Web browser, but nothing will be broken. This means that those users with the latest Web browsers will get to utilize all of the site’s features, whereas those using a less capable browser will see a simplified version.
What is “Progressive Enhancement?”
Progressive enhancement is essentially the same as graceful degradation, but the developer starts by creating the base-level functionality that works in every browser. Then they add features to provide a little more for anyone using a modern Web browser. Graceful degradation and progressive enhancement provide the same benefits, but it’s just a matter of the developer’s preference as to what they want to use as their starting point.
Now that I understand the lingo, why do these terms matter?
I invite you to compare what websites looked like in 2001 to what they look like now. Keep in mind that the websites from 2001 were being viewed in Web browsers that were released just 5 years after the concept of displaying an image in line with other content on a website was first implemented.
The modern idea of providing a better website for users with capable browsers is in hopes that people using old Web browsers see some benefit in updating them, which would allow innovation to commence in the mainstream user base. I mean, a group of Web developers actually held a funeral for Internet Explorer 6® when Google® announced that they no longer supported it (Microsoft® even sent flowers)!
In the meantime, there still needs to be some ambition by developers that leads the way to the latest and greatest features and functionality.
