The First Edition

The web is an ever-changing medium whose scope, application, audience and platform continue to grow on a daily basis. If you’ve worked on the web for any amount of time, you’ve likely heard or even used the term “progressive enhancement.” Since the term’s inception, it has been considered a best practice for approaching web design. But what is it really? And how do we reconcile its meaning with the rapid evolution of the languages and browsers we rely on to do our jobs?

In this brief book, Aaron Gustafson chronicles the origins of progressive enhancement, its philosophy, and mechanisms, and reveals the countless practical ways that you can apply progressive enhancement principles using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. By understanding progressive enhancement and how to apply it properly, web practitioners can craft experiences that serve users (rather than browsers), giving them access to content without technological restrictions.

Published by Easy Readers on 31 May 2011.

Read it Free

Download the Project Files or fork on Github.

About the Paperback

  • 144 pages
  • Full color, inside & out
  • Printed & bound in the USA
  • Printed on 50% recycled paper

Table of Contents

  1. Foreword by Jeffrey Zeldman
  2. Chapter 1: Think of the User, Not the Browser
  3. Chapter 2: Progressive Enhancement With Markup
  4. Chapter 3: Progressive Enhancement With CSS
  5. Chapter 4: Progressive Enhancement With Javascript
  6. Chapter 5: Progressive Enhancement for Accessibility
  7. Chapter 6: Take It Away
  8. Index

Contributors