Designing with Progressive Enhancement: Building the Web that Works for Everyone

Progressive enhancement is an approach to web development that aims to deliver the best possible experience to the widest possible audience, and simplifies coding and testing as well. Whether users are viewing your sites on an iPhone, the latest and greatest high-end system, or even hearing them on a screen-reader, their experience should be easy to understand and use, and as fully-featured and functional as possible.
 
Designing with Progressive Enhancement will show you how. It’s both a practical guide to understanding the principles and benefits of progressive enhancement, and a detailed exploration of examples that will teach you—whether you’re a designer or a developer—how, where, and when to implement the specific coding and scripting approaches that embody progressive enhancement.
 
In this book, you’ll learn:

•  Why common coding approaches leave users behind, and how progressive enhancement is a more inclusive and accessible alternative

•  How to analyze complex interface designs, see the underlying semantic HTML experience that will work everywhere, and layer on advanced enhancements safely

•  A unique browser capabilities testing suite that helps deliver enhancements only to devices that can handle them

• Real-world best practices for coding HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to work with progressive enhancement, and cases where forward-looking HTML5 and CSS3 techniques can be applied effectively today

• How to factor in accessibility features like WAI-ARIA and keyboard support to ensure universal access
•  Detailed techniques to transform semantic HTML into interactive components like sliders, tabs, tree controls, and charts, along with downloadable jQuery-based widgets to apply directly in your projects

Todd Parker has over a dozen years of experience creating highly functional, accessible and intuitive interfaces that make the most of the technical and interface constraints of a broad range of devices, from wireless phones and Palm devices, to touch screen tablets, kiosks and Web sites. Prior to founding Filament Group, Todd worked at ZEFER Corporation and CSC Consulting as a principal experience designer. Todd's work has been recognized by Communication Arts magazine for design excellence.

Scott Jehl is formally trained in graphic design, but his skills comfortably span both design and development. Prior to joining Filament Group, Scott worked for such clients as New England Journal of Medicine, Footjoy Golf, and Aspen Snowmass Resorts. In his spare time, Scott runs WriteMaps.com, an ajax Web application for building visual Web site sitemaps. He is also a member of the jQuery Design Team.

Patty Toland is a founding partner at Filament Group, Inc.  Patty brings to Filament more than twenty years consulting experience with corporate and institutional clients, with a focus on communicating complex messages across a range of media.  Her expertise lies in developing robust information and communication strategies, including branding, constituent analysis, information architecture and system design, and writing. Prior to founding Filament Group, Patty worked at ZEFER Corp., US Peace Corps, Kohn Cruikshank Inc. and Harvard Business School.

Maggie Costello Wachs is Filament Group's coding and production master — she ensures the quality of everything that goes out the door.  Maggie's brings deep expertise in front-end coding, with a particular focus on standards-compliant markup, CSS and scripting that works optimally with progressive enhancement. Prior to joining FIlament Group, Maggie worked at Monitor Group and ZEFER Corp.