Software can be finished - Ross Wintle
There’s quite a crossover between resilience and longevity:
- Understand the requirements
- Keep scope small and fixed
- Reduce dependencies
- Produce static output
- Increase Quality Assurance
Maybe we could tone down the JavaScript / fuzzy notepad
Accept that sometimes, or for some people, your JavaScript will not work. Put some thought into what that means. Err on the side of basing your work on existing HTML mechanisms whenever you can.
If you’re going to override or reimplement something that already exists, do some research on what the existing thing does first. You cannot possibly craft a good replacement without understanding the original.
Remember that for all the power the web affords you, the control is still ultimately in end user’s hands.
Related links
What You Need to Know about Modern CSS (2025 Edition) – Frontend Masters Blog
Here’s a comprehensive round-up of new CSS that you can use right now—you can expect to see some of this in action at Web Day Out!
Polishing your typography with line height units | WebKit
I should be using the lh and rlh units more enough—they’re supported across the board!
A pragmatic browser support strategy | Go Make Things
- Basic functionality should work on any device that can access the web.
- Extras and flourishes are treated as progressive enhancements for modern devices.
- The UI can look different and even clunky on older devices and browsers, as long as it doesn’t break rule #1.
Progressive enhancement brings everyone in - The History of the Web
This is a great history of the idea of progressive enhancement:
It is an idea that has been lasting and enduring for two decades, and will continue.
Related posts
Simplify
Reminding myself just how much you can do with CSS these days.
Making the new Salter Cane website
A redesign with modern CSS.
Browser support
Here’s Clearleft’s approach to browser support. You can use it too (it’s CC-licensed).
Applying the four principles of accessibility
Here’s how I interpret the top-level guidance in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
Speculation rules
A performance boost in Chrome.