Progressive Enhancement 2.0
              Because the Web isn't Print




Nicholas C. Zakas
Presentation Architect, Yahoo!
Who's this guy?




         Presentation       Contributor,
           Architect     Creator of YUI Test




Author     Lead Author   Contributor           Lead Author
@slicknet
A Brief History of
Web Development
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marc_smith/447183492/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marc_smith/447183492/
1993
1994
1995
1996
Now
  in
color!
1995
Also
         in
       color!
1996
"Anyone who slaps a 'this page is best
viewed with Browser X' label on a Web
page appears to be yearning for the bad
old days, before the Web, when you had
very little chance of reading a document
written on another computer, another
word processor, or another network."

                 Tim Berners-Lee, 1996
Graceful Degradation
"Property of Bri if
 zombies attack."
http://www.digital-web.com/articles/fluid_thinking/
<noscript>
<noscript>Your browser doesn't
support JavaScript. Sucks to be you.
          Bye.</noscript>
Progressive Enhancement
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/understandingprogressiveenhancement/
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/understandingprogressiveenhancement/
"An escalator can never break;
  it can only become stairs."
       Mitch Hedberg, Comedian




                          http://www.flickr.com/photos/midiman/336647596/
                          http://www.flickr.com/photos/midiman/336647596/
Behavior
Presentation
  Content
JavaScript
   CSS
  HTML
A-Grade




JavaScript
   CSS
  HTML
C-Grade




 HTML
Progressive Enhancement 1.0
We're having some problems
Development takes too long



              http://www.flickr.com/photos/athomeinscottsdale/4507847940/
Too many bugs




           http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaibara/4632384645/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drb62/4990651560/




                                     Our pages are slow
Why?
We got confused
Web page : ?
Web sites look like print
Web page : Printed page
1) WEB PAGE : PRINTED PAGE ::

 (a) dairy : diary
 (b) spider : author
 (c) web browser : book
 (d) digital photo : print photo
 (e) cell phone: text message
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisschroeder/4096627359/




              Every printed book is exactly the same
We became obsessed with identical experiences
            across all browsers

                          http://www.flickr.com/photos/joanna8555/5554285729/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/denisdervisevic/5327974794/




      People got angry if you suggested otherwise
Quality?
Professional?
Consistency?
Unity of messaging combined
with brand identification while
  setting user expectations
        appropriately?
http://xark.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/01/bullshit-still.html
1) WEB PAGE : PRINTED PAGE ::

 (a) dairy : diary
 (b) spider : author
                      N
 (c) web browser : book G
          R O
 (d) digital photo : print photo
 (e) cell phone: text message
         W
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramdac/377087239/
We started the analogy in the
         wrong spot
Web page : ?
N G
Web page : Printed page

    R O
   W
Web browser : Web page
1) WEB BROWSER : WEB PAGE ::

 (a) telephone : call
 (b) computer : email
 (c) printed book : printed page
 (d) television : television show
 (e) mailbox : letter
Old browsers are like black & white TVs

                      http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevestein1982/4047834684/
New browsers are like HD TVs
                    http://www.flickr.com/photos/lge/3988988400/
TV already solved this problem
http://www.flickr.com/photos/navdeepraj/504596529/
This would be silly
                       Yet this is what web developers have been doing
http://www.flickr.com/photos/navdeepraj/504596529/
Do web sites need to look exactly
  the same in every browser?
http://dowebsitesneedtolookexactlythesameineverybrowser.com/
Your site SHOULD look different
     in different browsers
Give users an incentive to
        upgrade
Progressive Enhancement 1.0




         JavaScript
            CSS
           HTML
Progressive Enhancement 2.0


    OMG CSS    OMG JS
    Nice CSS      Nice JS
    Base CSS   Base JS
           HTML
Chrome


OMG CSS    Base JS
           OMG JS
Nice CSS   Base JS
           Nice JS
Base CSS   Base JS
       HTML
Firefox


            OMG JS
Nice CSS    Base JS
            Nice JS
Base CSS    Base JS
       HTML
Internet Explorer 9




Nice CSS    Base JS
            Nice JS
Base CSS    Base JS
       HTML
Internet Explorer 6




Base CSS    Base JS
       HTML
Netscape 4




  HTML
New Browser Capabilities


Rounded Corners              Drag and Drop
Drop Shadows                 Geolocation
Gradients                    Cross-Domain Ajax
Transitions                  Cross-Domain Messaging
Transforms                   Client-Side Data Storage
Multiple Background Images   Canvas/WebGL
The best possible experience
given the device capabilities
Awesome!   OK




                 OK   Bad!
Value




        Effort
Browser Marketshare
      11


  8

                                                       IE6
                                                       IE7
                                                       Others




                             81




           Source: http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=2
Development Time Spent



 40                  IE6 & IE7
                     Others


                60




                                 Source: Me
Used with permission. Copyright 2008 BoyShapedBox.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/boyshapedbox/2282655473/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/myphotoshopbrushes/3242490894/
Rounded Corners
Drop Shadows
Gradients

                  Only with CSS
Advanced scripting and
                   behavior


Only with native
     APIs
Long development time

Trying to make
older browsers
do things they were
never meant to do
                         Too many bugs




                           Slow pages
Older browsers often need
           *a lot*
more code to do the same thing
Before                              1467 bytes

<div class="y-pa-app pa-app-view" id="{$id}-app-view">
    <div class="pa-app-chrome-topshadow pa-app-chrome-border-color y-pa-ln-open-dk">
        <div class="pa-app-chrome-leftcorner y-fp-pg-controls"></div>
        <div class="pa-app-chrome-rightcorner y-fp-pg-controls"></div>
    </div>
    <div class="pa-app-chrome-rightshadow">
        <div class="pa-app-chrome-content pa-app-chrome-border-color y-pa-bg-open y-pa-ln-open-dk">
            <div class="pa-app-chrome-hd">
                <ul class="pa-nav">
                    <li>
                         <a role="button" class="pa-close y-fp-pg-controls-nt hide-textindent"
    href="#close" {$closeBeacon2}><!!>STR.PA.EXPANDED.CLOSE</!!></a>
                    </li>
                </ul>
            </div>
            <div class="pa-app-chrome-bd">
                <div class="pa-mod-ctr" id="{$id}-mod-ctr" style="visibility: visible;"></div>
                <div id="{$id}-module-loading-msg" class="y-pa-ln-open-dk pa-module-loading-msg"></div>
                <a role="button" class="pa-close hide-offscreen" href="#close"
    {$closeBeacon2}><!!>STR.PA.EXPANDED.CLOSE</!!></a>
            </div>
        </div>
    </div>
    <div class="pa-app-chrome-bottomshadow y-fp-pg-grad pa-app-chrome-border-color y-pa-ln-open-dk">
        <div class="pa-app-chrome-leftcorner y-fp-pg-controls"></div>
        <div class="pa-app-chrome-rightcorner y-fp-pg-controls"></div>
    </div>
</div>
After                                 566 bytes



<div class="pa-app" id="{$id}-app">
    <button class="do-app-close y-fp-pg-controls-nt hide-textindent"
    {$closeBeacon2}><!!>STR.PA.EXPANDED.CLOSE</!!></button>
    <div class="pa-app-bd">
        <div id="{$id}-mod" class="pa-app-mod"></div>
        <div id="{$id}-module-loading-msg" class="y-pa-ln-open-dk pa-module-loading-msg"></div>
    </div>
    <div class="pa-app-cort"></div>
    <div class="pa-app-corb"></div>
    <button class="do-app-close y-fp-pg-controls-nt hide-textindent"
    {$closeBeacon2}><!!>STR.PA.EXPANDED.CLOSE</!!></button>
</div>
Less code
    =
 Faster
Won't people notice?
Crying baby! Oh nos!




               http://www.flickr.com/photos/tudor/318123668/
What did you see?
Crying baby! Oh nos!




               http://www.flickr.com/photos/tudor/318123668/
Crying baby! Oh nos!




               http://www.flickr.com/photos/tudor/318123668/
Your users only use one browser
@slicknetsmom
@slicknetsmom
You are not alone
Summary
1) WEB BROWSER : WEB PAGE ::

 (a) telephone : call
 (b) computer : email
 (c) printed book : printed page
 (d) television : television show
 (e) mailbox : letter
Progressive Enhancement 1.0




         JavaScript
            CSS
           HTML
Progressive Enhancement 2.0


    OMG CSS    OMG JS
    Nice CSS      Nice JS
    Base CSS   Base JS
           HTML
http://www.flickr.com/photos/navdeepraj/504596529/
Don't be horrible
Do be awesome
The End
Etcetera
• My blog:      www.nczonline.net
• Twitter:      @slicknet
• These Slides: slideshare.net/nzakas

Progressive Enhancement 2.0 (Conference Agnostic)