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Ask HN: Do you block JavaScript? why?

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Re: Ask HN: Do you block JavaScript? why?

#11

Post by hmwhy »

I set NoScript to disallow all JavaScript by default and whitelist those that I "trust" as I go, I have been doing that for a few years now.

The friction in surfing doesn't get lower over time, not least because my exposure to most non-whitelisted websites are through websites like HN, but it's also not high enough that I would consider not blocking JavaScript by default.

Websites that use a lot of third-party JavaScript are red flags to me; more often than not, they are unrelated to critical functionalities (such as payment), and they add absolutely no value to the client.

Perhaps one thing that is worth noting is that modern frameworks that are SSG-focused or hybrids like Next.js make developing websites for JavaScript-blocking clients a bit easier. I haven't personally looked into this too closely, but at least with the website projects that I have work on with Next.js, you would still get a presentable bare-minimum with little effort when JavaScript is turned off, it's also not difficult to implement a reasonable fallback for JavaScript-blocking clients.

The above of course depends on how much server data need to be fetched dynamically to render a page, which again depends on the nature of the content on a website. If I'm not mistaken, there are functionalities that simply can't be implemented, or very impractical to implement, without JavaScript; in those cases the question of "making it work for that 0.2%" is probably moot.

Re: Ask HN: Do you block JavaScript? why?

#12

Post by alexmingoia »

No, but I often close a website before it can load. In my experience, most of the websites I close out of frustration load slowly because they’re JavaScript monstrosities.

I don’t think users who bounce because of huge JS bundles are tracked very well, because often the bundle that hasn’t loaded is what does the tracking.

Re: Ask HN: Do you block JavaScript? why?

#13

Post by twy30 »

Yes; for (1) speed, and (2) security.

* The gain of speed is noticeable. I love it.

* The benefits of security is qualitative/theoretical. I do not have any quantifiable data here.

* The change of UX is usually acceptable. I consume mostly textual information.

A few website's contents and/or services are valuable enough so that I whitelist them. For example, GitHub, YouTube, and HN.

Re: Ask HN: Do you block JavaScript? why?

#14

Post by forgotmypw17 »

Yes, I do, and I rarely unblock it. There are many reasons: security, performance, just plain consideration for my sanity.

But here is an unexpected side effect I noticed: Sites which require JS just to display correlate highly with low-quality content, which I usually regret wasting my time on having read.

This, above all the other reasons, is why I don't bother. Sure, I can unblock it with a quick three-key sequence, or I can use alternative access methods, but usually I just thank them for saving me the time and move on.

Re: Ask HN: Do you block JavaScript? why?

#16

Post by dumdum4356 »

I use NoScript and block scripts by default. The main reason is security - reducing browsers vulnerability surface and tracking/fingerprinting methods. As an added bonus it reduces significantly all kinds of annoyances like ads and popups. Also the pages load much faster and are lighter for cpu.

However, it is sad how few pages work without javascript these days. Nevertheless, I very rarely enable it for any site. Instead, if there is a page I really want to use, I "fix" it using a userscript. Sometimes it's as simple as modifying the CSS to reveal the hidden content. Sometimes it involves parsing some inline json from the document, doing XHR to get the content and building the html from scratch to show it. I suspect I'm in the minority even amongst the 0.2%.

Re: Ask HN: Do you block JavaScript? why?

#18

Post by carmen_sandiego »

eimrine wrote: post #15

Maybe you know any good reason to use JS? It will not make the text you read any better and other multimedia like youtube is being consumed way better if downloaded via youtube-dl.

> Maybe you know any good reason to use JS?

Sure. The websites that require JS will run.

Re: Ask HN: Do you block JavaScript? why?

#19

Post by swiley »

Most sites that don't work without javascript are unpleasant to use with it enabled anyway.

Also some portion of those 0.9% might be running librejs or noscript which has the user review each script file before running it and is much more aggressive about blocking cross site requests. With "disable js" removed from the firefox GUI a lot of the people "blocking javascript" probably show up as "errors."

I use this. The main reason is performance, my thinkpad is unusable if I let everyone's crap run wild on it. Also evaling every snippet of code you get over the network is absolute brain damage from a security perspective but no one actually cares anymore.

Re: Ask HN: Do you block JavaScript? why?

#20

Post by approxim8ion »

I have a separate browser profile for all general purpose (not Google, FB, or any account-based services) browsing. I use uBlock origin to block all first and third party JS, and also third party frames.

Most of the browsing I do in this profile is reading articles or visiting sites that are mostly text and images. The speed gains are enormous as is the improvement in performance on my lower powered laptop. I just don't see the need to enable JS unless the site breaks. If the site breaks it is either poorly written, in which case I have the option to bounce, or uses a JS framework like React or whatever in which case I allow at most first-party JS. If it works it works.

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