Polyfills vs Progressive Enhancement

Developers should use polyfills when building web applications that must support older browsers (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.

Polyfills

Nice Pick

Developers should use polyfills when building web applications that must support older browsers (e

Pros

• g
• Related to: javascript, web-development

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. Polyfills is a tool while Progressive Enhancement is a methodology. We picked Polyfills based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Polyfills wins

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