I am reminded in comments of Steve Champeon’s progressive enhancement, which I actually did cover in my book, “Adding Ajax”. My apologies to Steve for seeming to subvert his subversion of all browsers look the same. I tend to think of Steve’s progressive enhancement in light of the use of JavaScript, but it is also focused at design, too. And, I am embarrassed to admit, I forgot about the concept when I started to write up what I’ve done with my site designs. Blame it on enthusiasm, or advancing age—take your pick.
However, if the concept is so popular with web designers, I have to wonder why every time I mention the use of SVG in web design, I’m met with “Oh, but not every browser supports SVG”? Perhaps IE has become, over time, a handy excuse for not trying something new.
Regardless, the idea of starting plain, and upgrading gracefully did originate with Steve.
