Adaptive Web Design

Adaptive Web Design Crafting Rich Experiences with Progressive Enhancement

The concept of "progressive enhancement" (strategy for webdesign with emphasis on accesibility) is explained while using HTML, CSS and Javascript. The accompanying website gives a download of the first chapter for free.
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Reviews

Photo of Radimir Bitsov
Radimir Bitsov@radibit
4 stars
Jul 31, 2022

This was the first book I have read about responsive web design and its principles. It is very useful for people who wants to learn the fundamentals of the best practices in responsive front - end development and I definitely recommend it as one of the essential books about this theme.

Photo of Nick Simson
Nick Simson@nsmsn
4 stars
Nov 24, 2021

JavaScript is not your interface. It's just one powerful layer that can do some incredible things on an already solid HTML foundation. Adaptive Web Design is an excellent guide to creating rich digital experiences for the web. The author, Aaron Gustafson, is a seasoned web professional who really knows his stuff. More than a framework or methodology, Gustafson introduces Progressive Enhancement as a guiding "philosophy" to approaching websites and apps, treating each part of the design process as a series of layers upon a universally accessible, baseline experience. Progressive enhancement, when done right, will provide a base level support for ancient technology, while supporting new devices that have not been invented yet, as well as assistive technology for customers/audiences with disabilities. I've found that going back to retrofit existing sites I designed to fix accessibility issues is a time and labor-consuming, but worthwhile process. Knowing what I know now, I will be employing a progressive enhancement approach on every new project I take on. The book is organized into short chapters (layers) on content strategy, HTML, WAI-ARIA, CSS, and JavaScript (in that order). Gustafson includes many clever code snippets in the text itself for examples of progressive enhancement and performance strategies. The Second Edition is up-to-date with web standards, modern browser behavior, and offline storage information. I read the print edition, which includes perma.cc shortlinks (archived with the Internet Archive) of well-documented hypertext examples. There are seven video examples included as figures in the digital edition that can be viewed on the book's website. This book sits alongside my various Rosenfeld Media and A Book Apart titles - books with similar dimensions I find helpful to go back and refer to every few months. A web designer with a few years of experience will get a lot of ideas and inspiration from the text and examples, but I would recommend it for beginners as well, alongside Jennifer Robbins’ 'Learning Web Design'.

Photo of Michael Hessling
Michael Hessling@cherrypj
5 stars
Jun 8, 2021

Excellent. A great summary of the current work of art in front-end web development.

Photo of Nick Simson
Nick Simson@nsmsn
4 stars
May 25, 2021

JavaScript is not your interface. It's just one powerful layer that can do some incredible things on an already solid HTML foundation. Adaptive Web Design is an excellent guide to creating rich digital experiences for the web. The author, Aaron Gustafson, is a seasoned web professional who really knows his stuff. More than a framework or methodology, Gustafson introduces Progressive Enhancement as a guiding "philosophy" to approaching websites and apps, treating each part of the design process as a series of layers upon a universally accessible, baseline experience. Progressive enhancement, when done right, will provide a base level support for ancient technology, while supporting new devices that have not been invented yet, as well as assistive technology for customers/audiences with disabilities. I've found that going back to retrofit existing sites I designed to fix accessibility issues is a time and labor-consuming, but worthwhile process. Knowing what I know now, I will be employing a progressive enhancement approach on every new project I take on. The book is organized into short chapters (layers) on content strategy, HTML, WAI-ARIA, CSS, and JavaScript (in that order). Gustafson includes many clever code snippets in the text itself for examples of progressive enhancement and performance strategies. The Second Edition is up-to-date with web standards, modern browser behavior, and offline storage information. I read the print edition, which includes perma.cc shortlinks (archived with the Internet Archive) of well-documented hypertext examples. There are seven video examples included as figures in the digital edition that can be viewed on the book's website. This book sits alongside my various Rosenfeld Media and A Book Apart titles - books with similar dimensions I find helpful to go back and refer to every few months. A web designer with a few years of experience will get a lot of ideas and inspiration from the text and examples, but I would recommend it for beginners as well, alongside Jennifer Robbins’ 'Learning Web Design'.

Photo of Jon Dubielzyk
Jon Dubielzyk@dubielzyk
2 stars
Aug 15, 2022
Photo of Joshua Line
Joshua Line@fictionjunky
4 stars
Sep 30, 2021
Photo of Kevin S Perrine
Kevin S Perrine@kevinsperrine
3 stars
Sep 22, 2021
Photo of G. Jason Head
G. Jason Head@gjhead
3 stars
Aug 7, 2021
Photo of Damian Bannon
Damian Bannon@damianb
4 stars
Jul 27, 2021