HTML, CSS and JavaScript are technical standards of actual files that are downloaded from a web server and rendered in a browser. Web designers use them to develop web interfaces that visitors see, click and touch. At the same time, front-end code contains a set of instructions to a screen reader, search engine crawler or the next generation smartphone. Done right, the information contained in HTML is accessible to audience on any device.
The diversity of devices accessing any web site results in unpredictable and inconsistent page rendering. That’s where Progressive Enhancement and Responsive Web Design come into play.
Progressive Enhancement is a methodology of enhancing the web user experience for the audience on modern browsers and still providing access to information to people visiting the site with outdated browsers or low performance devices.
Responsive Web Design (RWD) is a methodology of designing and building interface systems adaptive to a full range of screen resolutions. By developing a system of individual information and interaction components, we can adapt the sequence of such components to work within the screen resolution breakpoints to provide the best user experience in a given context. Responsive Web Design is not an upgrade to a traditional front-end development, it’s the default.
Web standards are our thing. We invented a number of world known front-end techniques, and have been presenting and teaching about HTML and CSS since 2007.
