Examples
- Search is down → show popular content instead of an error
- Redis unavailable → increased DB load, but the site keeps working
- Payment provider down → accept the order and process it later
- JavaScript blocked → a basic HTML version of the page is still accessible
Progressive Enhancement vs Graceful Degradation
- Progressive Enhancement — start with a base experience and progressively add features for supported environments
- Graceful Degradation — design for the modern environment but provide fallbacks for weaker ones
Implementation
Circuit Breaker, fallback responses, timeout + retry, feature flags to disable problematic features.