Accessibility ARIA vs Progressive Enhancement

Developers should learn and use ARIA when building interactive web applications with complex UI components (e meets developers should use progressive enhancement when building websites or applications that need to reach a broad audience, including users on older browsers, low-bandwidth connections, or assistive technologies. Here's our take.

Accessibility ARIA

Nice Pick

Developers should learn and use ARIA when building interactive web applications with complex UI components (e

Pros

• g
• Related to: html-semantics, web-accessibility

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Progressive Enhancement

Developers should use Progressive Enhancement when building websites or applications that need to reach a broad audience, including users on older browsers, low-bandwidth connections, or assistive technologies

Pros

• It's crucial for ensuring accessibility compliance, improving SEO through semantic HTML, and creating robust applications that degrade gracefully when advanced features fail
• Related to: semantic-html, responsive-web-design

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Accessibility ARIA is a concept while Progressive Enhancement is a methodology. We picked Accessibility ARIA based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Accessibility ARIA wins

Based on overall popularity. Accessibility ARIA is more widely used, but Progressive Enhancement excels in its own space.