The gist of the replies / rebuttals are that Nielsen seems to be stuck in the old way of thinking, and isn’t embracing what is becoming the reality for web development today: the massive number of different devices being used to access the web means applying a robust, Progressive Enhancement-driven, Responsive approach is the way forward. It doesn’t make sense to assume user intent from device context, to give mobile (or tablet, or other) users less content, or to provide separate sites at separate URLs.
Related: Browser screen resolution stats rile devs.
These screen resolution trends are nice to look at for historical reference, but that’s about it. The relation between screen resolution, browser viewport, and physical size of the screen is becoming increasingly complicated. Smartphones have physically small screens, but often have a high resolution. TVs have physically huge screens, but can have resolutions of 1920×1080: the same as many laptops.
This line of work is getting more complicated and difficult; but more interesting because of it!
There are plenty of posts doing the rounds talking about Responsive Web Design in the bigger picture sense: workflow, tools, and so on. (I find Mark Boulton particularly eloquent on the subject: always a pleasure to read!).
Personally, I’m tending towards using a select for smaller screens: hooking into the native UI seems like a good thing. This could mean using JavaScript (something like Filament Group’s cunning testfit in their example above) to switch the select out for a ul for larger screens.
Relying on JavaScript for anything that basic makes me uncomfortable, though, even when it’s done progressively. I’ve been wondering about putting in both select and the ul as a starting point. (Loading extra stuff is bad, yes, but these would be tiny text snippets.) Then, using media queries or some cunning RESS action (see also Dave Olsen’s excellent article) to pluck out or hide the one that’s not needed.
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!