Progressive Enhancement vs Feature Detection

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 meets developers should use feature detection when building web applications that need to work across multiple browsers and devices with varying capabilities, such as in responsive web design or progressive web apps. Here's our take.

Progressive Enhancement

Nice Pick

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

Feature Detection

Developers should use feature detection when building web applications that need to work across multiple browsers and devices with varying capabilities, such as in responsive web design or progressive web apps

Pros

• It is essential for handling browser inconsistencies, supporting older browsers while leveraging modern features, and avoiding errors from unsupported APIs, particularly in JavaScript-heavy applications like single-page apps or interactive sites
• Related to: progressive-enhancement, cross-browser-compatibility

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

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

The Bottom Line

Progressive Enhancement wins

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