Balkan makes a fairly convincing argument about the ease and automation of upgrading browsers, but focuses on designing/developing for browsers. I’m more convinced, and agree, with Allsopp that sites are for people, not for browsers. I think he nails it with:
And however ideal it might be that our users use only the most up to date version of a browser, it simply isn’t, and never will be, a practical reality.
Some users don’t, can’t, or won’t upgrade their browser. Some aren’t aware that there’s a choice available.
Balkan’s article also seems to be fairly desktop-focused. Mobile access via feature phones in Africa is booming. These users certainly aren’t using the latest and greatest browsers, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t consider them in the design and development of our sites.
Aaron Gustafson wrote a well-reasoned post about Progressive Enhancement vs. Hardboiled Design yesterday. In it he describes Progressive Enhancement more eloquently than I can (although he also uses a house analogy), and explains how it’s not at odds with the “Use the latest and greatest technology right now” approach that Hardboiled Web Design champions. Being a big fan of both approaches, this made me very happy. There’s no reason not to use the latest tech, as long as it’s applied in a stepped, responsible, manner.
Progressive Enhancement is all the more important in the industry at the moment because of the meteoric rise of Mobile First Responsive Design. Applying Progressive Enhancement in this context means starting with a small screen, low capability device, and adding features as screen size and device capability increases.
Aaron’s post jumped off from A plea for progressive enhancement, which reminded me to hit up Yiibu’s excellent Slideshare page. I’ve grabbed copies of the most recent three, which I somehow missed, and have them lined up for reading matter when I travel later this week.
Adaptive Web Design (Aaron’s book) is an excellent read, and I highly recommend it. It’s clear, concise, and offers excellent practical advice. I find that it goes very well with Filament Group’s Designing with Progressive Enhancement. Adaptive Web Design was quite a fast read, but great at getting the ideas across and making them stick. Designing with Progressive Enhancement is dense and a bit heavy going at times, but is an excellent resource and is jam-packed with fully worked examples. I would call both required reading!
I’m playing around with a redesign for the site, trying out new things I’ve learned and new ways of approaching various problems.
My first step was to look at the content. Discussions with clients during last year and the number of new approaches and ways of thinking that have been popping up in the web design and development world made me decide to write these two reference pages: Web Site Basics and How I do things.
Web Site Basics is aimed at the complete beginner. It answers the questions: “What makes up a web site?” and “How can I keep it up to date?”
How I do things is more News and Current Affairs in the Web Development world: One Web; Progressive Enhancement; Responsive Web Design; Mobile First / Content First. It’s a brief summary of the direction things are going and a round up of the thinking of a lot of smart cookies out there.
I think it would be a little melodramatic to say that Hardboiled Web Design by Andy Clarke changed my life, but it’s not that far from the truth. I bought the electronic version of the book on the day it came out from Five Simple Steps and raced through it. Something about the “no compromise” approach really resonated with me, and I became very excited about my work again. I was hungry to try new things and work even harder than before.
The worked examples of the various bits of HTML5 and CSS3 look beautiful (which I find is not always the case in web design books), but what really go me going was Part 1 of the book: the day to day practicalities, how do you sell this to clients, and so on.
I bought the paperback a short while after, and I’m glad I did: it’s a thing of beauty and a weighty tome forever. I find that paper books have a stronger visual memory hook for me. I find them easier to dive back into and flick through to find a particular technique or idea that I want to revisit.
This list from the end of the Workshop page sums up the Hardboiled approach quite nicely:
At the end of the day, you’ll understand
Why web browsers don’t limit your creativity
That websites shouldn’t look, or be experienced the same in every browser
How to handle older, less capable browsers
That browser differences are creative and business opportunities, not obstacles
A parting aside: Five Simple Steps has a small but strong catalogue and is well worth perusing. I’m particularly fond of Brian Suda’s Designing with Data. It tickles all my minimalism muscles, and he’s pleasingly rude about Chart Junk.
