Under development

Let me start by saying that HTML5 is still under development, and with it a whole new challenge for web designers. As developers we shouldn’t get into discussions about which markup is the best. Rather, we must modify our coding habits to keep the web accessible.

While it is true HTML5 and CSS3 are both a work in progress and is going to stay that way for some time, there’s no reason not to start using it now. We know that implementation of unfinished specifications does work and that’s were Progressive Enhancement and Graceful Degradation come into play.

Assume you know the basics of HTML and CSS. Including all the HTML4 tags and the basic CSS selectors and properties.

HTML5 can not be used for everything so be selective with how and where to use it. If your website is coded in standards compliant XHTML strict there’s no real need to change to HTML5. Consider that HTML5 is still under development, and it’s probably the “most open” project the W3C has ever done. With the immense amount of feedback and all the hype around it, the current draft is bound to change and it’s impossible to predict how much.

Progressive Enhancement and Graceful Degradation

Graceful Degradation practice is an ideology, basically using the latest technologies first, and then fix anything that needs fixing for older browsers. Most of us code for Firefox first, then fix Internet Explorer.

Progressive Enhancement practise is the habit of building first for the less capable, browser and then enhance for the latest technologies. For example, most of the times we code a website we start with the markup and then apply an external CSS file where we add all the styling.

Both technologies usually go hand in hand and have been part of the ways we do things for years. It’s just the terms that are not that well-known. And now, both of these practices need to evolve due to the new languages that are approaching. If you want to go deeper into both of these terms, check a related article on accessites.org.

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