1 Unobtrusive JavaScript

Is also nicely explained in a self-training course here: Unobtrusive JavaScript.

I’ve been pushing this idea for years, but I think it would be interesting to go a bit more into depth about what it means these days. Obtrusive techniques tend to get used not because people don’t want to do the right thing but because of performance and availability concerns. I find myself for example working with assisstive technology to have to resort to terrible hacks as browsers have moved on but screen readers haven’t.

posted at 02:17 pm on November 4, 2008 by Christian Heilmann

2 Great article

Thanks for the article, I have to always remind people who think they know Javascript well, there is a better way to script it. Keep it unobtrusive and use graceful degradation to make your websites accessible!

posted at 03:13 pm on November 4, 2008 by Daniel D

3 Javascript & CSS both on the same level

Great article!

Lately I see myself using ID’s and Classes more and more. Not just for CSS but also for Javascript. It makes the content a lot more explicit and allows the behaviors to be added and tweaked without changing the content.

posted at 03:44 pm on November 4, 2008 by Jean-Marc Lagace

4 No Style in JS!

This has been a great series and I appreciate you adding the point about keeping style declarations out of the javascript. A lot of times this point is forgotten, and it’s a main concern for keeping the structure, function, and style separated.

posted at 05:53 pm on November 4, 2008 by Jesse Schoberg

5 Use a framework!

These articles are great, but they miss one big point: javascript isn’t the same in every browser, and dealing with its differences can quickly drive you mad.

If a developer uses a framework such as Dojo or (my favorite) jQuery, the experience will be much better for them and their users.

They will write code faster with less time spent on cross-browser debugging. And their code will perform better and be more consistent for the end user.

posted at 06:33 pm on November 4, 2008 by Steven Simmons

6 More Specific - Use JQuery

I use JQuery for everything. It makes JS fun

posted at 08:04 pm on November 4, 2008 by nuovo labs

7 Good article

I still don’t see the difference between PE (Progressive Enhancement) and Graceful Degradation. I use everything you say that’s supposed to be “PE” (except having 9 different CSS-files) however i just call it good and professional design or a word that i often use with clients “Long term and responsible design that will work in the future and in the now no matter what device a person is using”.

Isn’t it really common these days to think:
1. Content (layer 1, without this nothing else “work”)
2. Structure (layer 2)
3. Design (layer 3)
4. Script (layer 4)

Or is that just from the graphic design and advertising business where “Content is king” and everything after that is just to ADD to the content?

I still see it as GD though since the optimal experience is with all the different layers active and everything beneath that is just to cater…. however it can as well be PE since it’s made in such a way that everything always is focused at Layer 1 – The Content, the god, the center of everything and if that works well and if the coding is done correctly it will just “work”.

posted at 10:30 pm on November 4, 2008 by Tommie Hansen

8 PE vs GD

#7:

The difference between the two ostensibly similar methodologies here is only that their names demonstrate the intended approach. Graceful Degradation suggests the building of a feature-rich, all-singing, all-dancing site, and ensuring it still works acceptably on browsers with limited functionality.

The term Progressive Enhancement on the other hand, seems to indicate the building of a basic, solid site and then adding script functionality to offer a greater user experience.

Whilst the end result should be the same in both cases, the intended routes inferred from the names are very different.

posted at 08:57 am on November 5, 2008 by Alex Coles

9 Awesome article

Thanks for the brilliant article. Very useful and explains very clearly how to hijack the DOM.

As others have mentioned, I think that the lack of a mention of frameworks was a shame, I use jQuery for my projects. Perhaps frameworks could be the topic of a next article?

posted at 02:08 pm on November 5, 2008 by clinton montague

10 Great Article!

Thanks for the brilliant article! Progressive Enhancement and Graceful Degradation are two critical aspects of Javascript. However, it up to you to put it to good use!

posted at 10:55 am on November 7, 2008 by Maneet Puri

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