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It’s a continuum. Still.

I finally got around to reading How To Create Your Own Front-End Website Testing Plan and that got me a bit angry talking about support levels. The article steers towards a binary way of thinking: have / have not and supported / unsupported, and I think that’s not quite right. The way that users will experience a site sits on a continuum, and it’s not for us to tell them that their browser is or isn’t “good enough.”

I’m going to pick on the Smashing Mag article a little. Sorry.

Support level 2: partially supported browsers and devices

The turn of phrase here is a little off for me. It’s not that they are partially supported: it’s more that they’re full supported for a different experience. The article also talks about degradation instead of enhancement. I’d much rather build with Progressive Enhancement: a tasty base, with goodness layered on top.

Support level 3: unsupported browsers and devices

Ideally there should be no such thing as an unsupported browser or device. Every browser should get a functional experience, even if it’s not fancy.