This strategy has been guiding our web development practices for quite a while now.\u00a0Progressive enhancement<\/a> for the win, right?<\/p>\r\n\r\n Maybe. Something new has been growing the past few years.<\/p>\r\n\r\n The difference between a web app and a web site might not be obvious to the average user, but to a web developer, it’s huge. Web apps are definitely in the minority, but they’re growing rapidly, and we now have more JavaScript MVC frameworks out<\/a>\u00a0there<\/a> than<\/a> you<\/a>\u00a0could<\/a>\u00a0possibly<\/a> shake<\/a> a<\/a> stick<\/a> at<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n A new application framework called Meteor\u00a0was recently released, and the first of their core principles<\/a>\u00a0neatly sums up what makes a web app different from a web site:<\/p>\r\n Data on the Wire<\/em>. Don’t send HTML over the network. Send data and let the client decide how to render it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\r\n There’s something pretty compelling about about this kind of approach. It makes richer interactions possible, and if you’re building a sophisticated application it might be the only way to stay scalable. \u00a0But it’s a decidedly far cry from progressive enhancement.<\/p>\r\n As usual, there’s never one right answer for\u00a0every situation. You’ll need to think about\u00a0who your audience is, how they’ll best accomplish their goals, and where you want to go with it. If you want to build the cutting-edge new hotness, an app will be perfect. If you want a site that works on as many devices<\/a> as possible, progressive enhancement is probably a better approach<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n![\"Layers](\"http:\/\/cbateman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/m-m.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\nWeb Apps and Client-side MVC<\/h2>\r\n\r\n
What to Do<\/h2>\r\n