At WordCamp Las Vegas 2011, I gave my first ever WordCamp talk. My topic was Progressively Enhancing Your WordPress Theme.

I chose that as my topic because I believed then, as I believe now, that progressive enhancement is nearly always the best way to build a website or web application. Focus on getting the content to someone, no matter what device they might be using, or what capabilities they might have. Then work on adding extras to that experience for devices and for people who have the capability to enjoy them.

As the web’s reach expands, the ways that people access it change, too. We take for granted that everyone else is having the same experience on our websites that we are – sitting at a desk with a nice, big monitor or maybe even balancing a laptop while sipping a coffee. But people access websites on gaming consoles, ebook readers, phones (only about half of which are smartphones),  tablets, televisions, etc. And all those different devices have different capabilities. Continue reading →