Web Development Beginner

What is Progressive Enhancement?

A web design strategy that starts with basic functionality for all browsers and progressively adds advanced features for capable ones.

Progressive enhancement builds from a baseline of semantic HTML that works everywhere, adds CSS for visual presentation, then layers JavaScript for interactivity. This ensures content is accessible even if CSS or JavaScript fails to load. The approach contrasts with graceful degradation (building for modern browsers first, then patching for older ones). Examples include forms that work without JavaScript (standard submit), images with proper alt text, and server-side rendering with client-side enhancement. Progressive enhancement aligns with web accessibility, SEO (search engines primarily read HTML), and resilience. Feature detection (not browser detection) guides which enhancements to apply.

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API (Application Programming Interface)

A set of rules and protocols that allows different software applications to communicate and exchange data.

API Rate Limiting

A strategy for limiting the number of API requests a client can make within a specified time window to protect server resources.

Web Performance Optimization

Techniques to make websites load faster and respond more quickly, improving user experience and search engine rankings.

Static Site Generator (SSG)

A tool that generates a complete static HTML website from templates and content at build time, requiring no server-side processing.

SSR (Server-Side Rendering)

A technique where web pages are rendered on the server and sent as complete HTML to the browser, improving SEO and initial load time.

A set of browser-native APIs for creating reusable, encapsulated custom HTML elements with their own styling and behavior.

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