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The idea behind progressive enhancement - as the name already indicates - is to step away from an ‘all or nothing’ approach for a certain technology and instead gradually enhance the website functionality by adding additional layers depending on the clients abilities to use the functionality in the new layer.

A simple breakdown of these ‘layers’ would be as follows:

1. Content
2. Semantically meaningful markup for the content - (x)HTML
3. Presentation layer - CSS
4. Behaviour layer - DOM scripting

With a progressive enhancement approach to building websites, you can ensure that not matter how advanced and code rich your website might be, the core information of the site and the way in which it is useable and accessible for your users will remain the same.

Just because someone does not have Javascript enabled does not mean he will be locked out of your site.

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The ‘API & Mash ups’ presentation by Kevin Yank and Cameron Adams (presented by ‘Bluepoint’) demonstrated just how easily data offered by a range of popular online services (MySpace, Upcoming.com, Google Maps) can be combined - mashed up so to speak - into an aggregate data pool feeding some of the most interesting and powerful tools, for anyone who has enough time on their hands to make us of it.

I will use the word ‘interesting’ in a slightly negative way because I believe that the potential issues that some of these mash ups may present outweighs the overall ‘coolness factor’ by a long shot.

Think about the following:

Amazon’s purchase data combined with the Google Maps API, to find out who bought George Orwell - 1984 and where in the US do they live?
Not too bad right ?

Now think of Upcoming.com’s event data (which can provide the attendees name for certain events) combined with the Google Maps API. This scenario would give any a nice overview or where exactly John Doe will be from next Wednesday.
Starting to get worried?

Finally I’d like you to think about the scenario above and throw some more personal information into the mix, by say tapping into the MySpace or Flickr API’s, potentially giving you a fairly comprehensive picture of a person you would like to track.
Stopped smiling yet?

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So, after an absolutely fantastic week at WD06 in Sydney I have safely landed back in good old Perth.

I have to say the whole thing was an absolute blast and my initial reservations disapeared almost instantly shortly into the events of day one. All the people I met as well as the outstanding quality of the speakers and last but not least the incredibly effort that John and Maxine and everyone else involved put into this event really showed.

Even thought the flight back was shocking, because I stuffed my neck/shoulder trying to find some rest, I have started writing the first of a few blogs that I will post in the coming week as I finish them off.

Thanks to Andy Clarke for taking time to have a quick chat with me after his fantastic keynote on day two even though he was dying to get outside for a smoke. Also thanks to the Sitepoint guys for their closing eve party, especially Kevin Yank for the free drinks the quick chat, and the t-shirt & book bribe offered.

Of course I’d also like to thank everyone else that I talked to over the last week whom I haven’t mentioned here right now, rest assured a lot of the conversations that I have had will make it into the upcoming WD06 blogs.

Will I be back next year? Definitely !