What is progressive enhancement in CSS?

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Progressive enhancement means starting with a baseline experience that works in older browsers, then progressively adding enhancements for modern browsers. In CSS terms, you provide solid, accessible styling that renders correctly everywhere, and you layer on advanced features only when the browser supports them—using techniques like @supports to opt into grid layouts, CSS custom properties with fallbacks, or newer selectors and properties when available. This approach keeps content usable and functional even without the latest capabilities, while delivering richer visuals and interactions for capable browsers.

This is preferable because it ensures accessibility and consistent behavior across a range of environments, rather than forcing every browser to handle every feature. The idea of always loading all CSS features upfront ignores varying browser support and can lead to broken layouts or slower performance on older browsers. Building only for the latest browsers or relying entirely on JavaScript also misses the CSS-focused principle of progressively enhancing styling based on capability.