Progressive Enhancement is Dead, Long Live Progressive Enhancement

Some say that using a JavaScript framework means sacrificing core web principles—universal access, graceful degradation—in exchange for developer convenience. Are JavaScript peddlers like me the Pied Pipers of doom, leading the community astray from web righteousness? Let’s look at why devs are drawn to the benefits of JS frameworks—and discuss whether the rampant hand-wringing about progressive enhancement is deserved or a relic from an older age.

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1. Progressive Enhancement is Dead
   LONG LIVE
   PROGRESSIVE
   ENHANCEMENT
   

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4. progressive enhancement
   (n.) rendering HTML on the server, then
   adding behavior using JavaScript
   

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6. Only you can prevent
   JAVASCRIPT
   SHAMING
   

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8. Pages that are empty without JS: dead to history (archive-
   org), unreliable for search results (despite any search
   engine claims of JS support, check it yourself), and thus
   ignorable. No need to waste time reading or
   responding.
   Because in 10 years nothing you built today that depends
   on JS for the content will be available, visible, or archived
   anywhere on the web.
   All your fancy front-end-JS-required
   frameworks are dead to history, a mere
   evolutionary blip in web app development
   practices. Perhaps they provided
   interesting ephemeral prototypes, nothing
   more.
   

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10. THE WEB
    for granted
    don't take
    

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15. Using JavaScript has
    REAL BENEFITS
    

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16. • Works offline
    • No page reloads (great for e.g. music players)
    • Fast
    • Rich interaction
    • Access to device features (camera, storage,
    GPS)
    

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17. Over the next few years almost all of the
    people who don't yet have a phone will get
    one, and almost all of the phones on earth
    will become smartphones.
    A decade ago some of that was subject to debate - today it
    isn't. What all those people pay for data, and how they
    charge their phones, may be a challenge, but the
    smartphone itself is close to a universal product for
    humanity - the first the tech industry has ever had.
    

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18. A Tale of Two Supercomputers
    50ms
    

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19. A Tale of Two Supercomputers
    

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20. SMARTPHONES
    will be more pervasive than
    CONNECTIVITY
    

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21. When you have a supercomputer in your pocket, but
    intermittent connectivity, the ability to work
    OFFLINE
    is the key to ubiquity
    

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23. HTML
    HTTP
    User Agent
    HTTP
    HTTP!
    

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24. HTML + HTTP
    + maybe JS
    client-side
    JavaScript
    progressive
    enhancement
    JavaScript
    slow devices,
    good network
    fast devices,
    bad network
    technology best for
    

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27. In other words
    

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28. AND
    the age of the slow, incapable device is
    coming to an end
    BUT
    connectivity remains imperfect, even in
    developed countries
    IF
    progressive enhancement is about
    preserving the ubiquity of the web
    

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29. We should all
    be building
    offline apps
    with…
    JavaScript!
    

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31. BUT!
    

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32. Progressive Enhancement
    • Works if JavaScript fails to load
    • Easier to archive and index
    • Faster initial load times
    

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33. MOBILE-FIRST
    RESPONSIVE-FIRST
    ACCESSIBILITY-FIRST
    CONTENT-FIRST
    SECURITY-FIRST
    OFFLINE-FIRST
    DOCUMENTATION-FIRST
    API-FIRST
    PERFORMANCE-FIRST
    

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34. EGO DEPLETION
    

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35. The best way to make someone
    do something is to make it free
    

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38. FastBoot
    Progressive Enhancement
    for Ember.js
    

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41. Progressive Enhancement
    JavaScript Frameworks
    vs.
    

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42. I agree:
    The web is about
    UBIQUITY
    

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43. Sometimes we need to
    RETHINK
    our assumptions
    

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44. • Smartphones are eating the world
    • Connectivity is the weak link, even
    in developed countries
    • JavaScript frameworks are taking
    over, for good reasons
    

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45. Let’s take advantage of these
    trends while preserving the
    ubiquity of the web
    

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46. Not try to shame people
    back to an outdated model
    

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47. THANK YOU
    tomdale
    

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