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Ask HN: Is Progressive Enhancement still relevant in 2022?

6 points by rmedaer ↗ HN
Considering browser usage and search engine bots in 2022, is it still useful and/or relevant to do Progressive Enhancement[1][2] in 2022 ?

Would you recommend a developer to implement his brand new website (or webapp) with this strategy ? Why ?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_enhancement

[2] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Glossary/Progressive_Enhancement

7 comments

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TameAntelope
JS is not optional in 2022. This will upset a lot of Gen Xers, but it's true.

"Do not exert meaningful effort building a website that can function without JS." is the advice I would give a developer trying to build a new site in 2022.

i0nutzb
Optional implies that user do something very intentional to disable JS.

But there are some cases where things go south without user direct intervention. Just to name a few:

- some edge bug that will render your whole site as a gorgeous white page - some browser extension that mess up with a site - some network configuration/condition that prevent JS loading correctly (think of a broken DNS)

night-rider
No hard and fast rule. JS should be treated as an embellishment. Know your audience too. If you’re doing a SPA your audience needs to be techie types. If your audience is everyone then make the site work without JS. If visitors need JS for some functions, state that with <noscript>
cpc26
Progressive Enhancement in E N T E R P R I S E Q U A L I T Y "javascript" frameworks used in industry?

I am perfectly willing to believe this is implemented in industry and exists but I really don't believe in industry. I have heard of them. I have just never seen one.

EddieDante
Progressive Enhancement will never not be relevant. If your web application doesn't work in Lynx over 56K dialup, then your application doesn't work. You can implement an app under these constraints if you use standard HTML forms and do all your processing server-side.
nathants
whether a site is js heavy, spa, or txt served by nginx doesn’t matter. it doesn’t matter at all.

what matters is how the site feels to use on a mobile browser over cellular.

there are only two options:

- good

- annoying

perilunar
For web apps, no.

For web sites, absolutely. If your blog or news site doesn't work without JS or CSS, then you screwed up.