A presentation at WP Chelt in in Cheltenham, UK by Andy Bell
The power of progressive enhancement WP Chelt - 17.04.2019 https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Hi there, I’m Andy 👋 https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
I’m a freelance web designer https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
I’m an accessibility and progressive enhancement super-fan 🚀 https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
The main reason I care a lot about these things… https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
People https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
People are who we build for https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Why progressive enhancement, though? https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Let’s start with something very important https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Fast, reliable internet is a LUXURY, not the standard https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Average internet speeds: Developed Countries https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
@andybelldesign
For context: 3G is about 7mbs https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Surprised at how slow they are? https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Average internet speeds: Developing Countries https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
& Paraguay: 1.4mbs ’ Nigeria: 3.9mbs ( India: 6.5mbs Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Internet_connection_speeds https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
The average page weight on desktop is 1526kb Source: https://httparchive.org/reports/page-weight https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
This isn’t a talk about performance, though https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Well, not directly https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
You can improve performance with progressive enhancement https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Let’s have a chat about devices https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
This might come as a surprise* *(it shouldn’t) https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Photo by Stephen Frank on Unsplash
Android has ~ 70% market share Source: http://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/mobile/europe https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
A lot of people browse the web without JavaScript https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Not necessarily because “they don’t like it” https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Some reasons https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
There was a runtime error https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
It’s disabled as the ultimate Ad Blocker https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
They run Android on 2G with data-saver enabled https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
How does progressive enhancement work? https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Minimum Viable Experience 🎉 https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
What the heck is that? https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Not like this Like this!
Provide the most possible value to a user with the least possible technical capability https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
A quick example https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
The priority is the content, which is delivered immediately https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
The fancy interaction doesn’t have to work for the user to get any value https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
The user will never know 🎉 https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Minimum Viable Experience 🎉 https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
A common response as to why progressive enhancement can’t be considered https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
“The users need the exact, same experience in every browser” - Someone in marketing, probably https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Another response https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
“I can’t possibly do that with my complex JavaScript application” - Some tech bro, probably https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
This one is probably true. https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Progressive enhancement is a mindset change https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Progressive enhancement isn’t necessarily more work and it certainly isn’t a non-JavaScript fallback, it’s a change in how we think about our projects. A complete mindset change is required here and it starts by remembering that you don’t build websites for yourself, you build them for others. https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Embrace the web platform ⛄ https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Simple setup = focus on what’s important https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
⛔ Frameworks ⛔ https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
⚖ Frameworks ⚖ https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Progressive enhancement + Frameworks = 💖? https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
What free tools are these? https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Web Components and CSS 🎉 https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
“But not all browsers support Web Components” - That person on Twitter https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
No fallbacks, thanks https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
😱
Let’s look back at our example https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
The Web Component enables our minimum viable experience https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
It works in IE8 https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
We’re producing a resilient front-end by default 🎉 https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
How about CSS? https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Planning is your pal https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
What’s the minimum viable experience? https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Easy to consume. Easy to navigate. https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Minimum Viable Experience 🎉 https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Job done for the 16% of global users that don’t have CSS Grid support. Source: https://caniuse.com/#feat=css-grid https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
What about the other 84%? https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
display: grid; grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fill, minmax(16.5rem, 1fr)); grid-gap: 1rem;
That’s the full-blown experience https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
.grid { display: grid; grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fill, minmax(16.5rem, 1fr)); grid-gap: 1rem; } .grid > * { max-width: 400px; } .grid > * + * { margin-top: 20px; }
Let’s put heavy duty CSS frameworks away https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Progressive enhancement means tiny amounts of CSS https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
We should embrace that. All of us. https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
What else can we do? https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Make progressive enhancement a part of every process in your team https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
“What is the minimum viable experience and how can we enhance it?” https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Always remember, the priority is the people that use our websites. https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Developer convenience is important, only if it frees us up to focus on our users https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Focus on tools, frameworks & hotness only: we fail to do our jobs https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Tools are good, but happy users are better https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
A user doesn’t care how your thing was built https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Recap https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
People are our main priority https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Ditch the fallbacks, hacks and heavy frameworks https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Embrace a minimum viable experience https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Create a resilient, user-focused experience https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Sleep easy knowing your website or app just works https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
Thank you 👋 Original article: https://andy-bell.design/pe Twitter: @andybelldesign Website: https://andy-bell.design https://andy-bell.design @andybelldesign
We dive into why progressive enhancement is important and how we can leverage the power of Vanilla JavaScript, Web Components and modern CSS to deliver a hack-free, lightweight and progressive experience for our users.
The following resources were mentioned during the presentation or are useful additional information.
An article I wrote with a case-study on how progressive enhancement helped https://mybrowser.fyi be useful to as many folks as possible.
Here’s what was said about this presentation on social media.
for free. You
can too.