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Using the Web for a Day with JavaScript Turned Off

smashingmagazine.com

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Re: Using the Web for a Day with JavaScript Turned Off

#151

Post by etatoby »

parvenu74 wrote: post #78

When the statistical body of internet users who refuse to use JavaScrpit are expressed in terms of a market to whom custom (JS-free) experiences will induce them to pay money for products and services we'll begin to see businesses create JS-free experiences for them. Are there marketing-specific attributes of anti-JS web users?

We simply get information on what stuff to buy from websites that work and ignore those that are broken.

My mobile browsing experience has been immensely better since I installed Brave and set it to block everything by default, including js.

When I'm presented with a blank page (not very often) I evaluate in a split second whether the several seconds needed to reload the site with js enabled are worth its content.

90% of the times the answer is no, so I click Back and then try the next search engine result for the same query. 10% of the time I really want to see or use that particular website, so I enable js for it on Brave's panel and wait for it to reload.

Summary: 1 additional click and 1 additional reload (to be only paid once) on websites I care about. ∞ less nuisance on everything else.

Re: Using the Web for a Day with JavaScript Turned Off

#152

Post by etatoby »

scient wrote: post #97
TeMPOraL wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, if you use JavaScript trackers instead of server logs, guess which group won't show on those trackers at all...

Most trackers have a way to handle non-JS clients by rendering a tracking pixel - a solution that has been out there for a long time now.

Last time I checked, the default embed code provided by Google Analytics (which covers 99% of website stats) was a single script tag.

Re: Using the Web for a Day with JavaScript Turned Off

#153

Post by etatoby »

NetOpWibby wrote: post #82
reificator wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If the number of people who visit your site with JavaScript disabled is less than the number of people who visit using the Opera browser, does it really make sense to add [number of supported browsers] x [JS on | JS off] permutations to your testing workload? If your site doesn't work for people with JS disabled, you're unlikely to see significant traffic from people with JS disabled.

I just launched a product last week that solves this very use case (for Express apps): https://chew.sh . It is VERY much an alpha and a lot of things aren’t working, just the bare minimum.

> requires JavaScript, please enable it to ensure a joyful browsing experience

(followed by some horribly formatted content, at least on my phone)

Guess which product I will not be buying today?

Re: Using the Web for a Day with JavaScript Turned Off

#154

Post by NetOpWibby »

etatoby wrote: post #153
NetOpWibby wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just launched a product last week that solves this very use case (for Express apps): https://chew.sh . It is VERY much an alpha and a lot of things aren’t working, just the bare minimum.

> requires JavaScript, please enable it to ensure a joyful browsing experience (followed by some horribly formatted content, at least on my phone) Guess which product I will not be buying today?

Lucky for you I'm not selling anything. Also, like I said, it's in alpha. Almost nothing is working. I just wanted to get it in production so I could start tracking my sites.

No worries etatoby, just wanted to share an alternative.

EDIT: Thanks for your comment though, I just thought of some ways I can improve usability by using to explain why JS is used for something.

Re: Using the Web for a Day with JavaScript Turned Off

#155

Post by ropeadopepope »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #45
brightball wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I continue to do it as well. Web frameworks make it so easy it’s hard to justify not doing it. There are so few web apps that actually need the SPA treatment. It’s a lot simpler to ignore the tool chain headaches that come from committing to the SPA when you don’t need it and gracefully degrade. It’s so rare that I actually run into an SPA that doesn’t feel slow...I just wonder why people bother sometimes.

> It’s so rare that I actually run into an SPA that doesn’t feel slow...I just wonder why people bother sometimes. It's fashion over function on the business side, and CV-driven development on the frontend people's side.

> It's fashion over function on the business side

Oh, there's a function to it. The 7 year tech cycle generates huge amounts of money for everybody involved. Consultants and consulting companies get a nice influx of billable hours every time the tech changes. Software companies pay to upgrade to the coolest tech because it's relatively cheap compared to the amount of money it generates. Users like it because with each tech upgrade comes an increase in convenience and graphical design. And, in some ways, having the latest version of the hot apps is another way of keeping up with the Joneses. Everybody's happy except for the power users. They tend to get left out in the cold.

Re: Using the Web for a Day with JavaScript Turned Off

#156

Post by sireat »

reaperducer wrote: post #87
everdev wrote: post #8

Back in 2006/7 I remember we'd use "progressive enhancement" to make a site work without JavaScript and then add JavaScript enhancements for those who had JS enabled. At some point (maybe after the popularity of Google Maps?) nobody wanted progressive enhancement and it was totally cool to just ignore users who had JS turned off. It made web app development so much easier, but probably less user friendly. It feels li…

I built a website for a mid-sized health care company, and the primary goal was to communicate with as many people using as many devices as possible, not to be flashy. With that mandate, the site (about 300 pages) ended up almost completely js-free. I think there was only one page that had js, and that was for a calculating widget. js is great for certain things, but certainly not necessary for all the things it's us…

Admirable, what type of stack did you use for the back-end?

I remember there was a movement to be completely JS free in late 90s/early 2000s.

Re: Using the Web for a Day with JavaScript Turned Off

#157

Post by majani »

everdev wrote: post #8

Back in 2006/7 I remember we'd use "progressive enhancement" to make a site work without JavaScript and then add JavaScript enhancements for those who had JS enabled. At some point (maybe after the popularity of Google Maps?) nobody wanted progressive enhancement and it was totally cool to just ignore users who had JS turned off. It made web app development so much easier, but probably less user friendly. It feels li…

There was a viral post on HN back in the day that demoed how the web would look like with seamless page loads instead of JavaScript. The consensus then was that the blank page and spinning gifs were good UI for showing that your click has led to a major change, while seamless JS communicated a minor action to the users

Re: Using the Web for a Day with JavaScript Turned Off

#158

Post by graysonk »

NetOpWibby wrote: post #154
etatoby wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> requires JavaScript, please enable it to ensure a joyful browsing experience (followed by some horribly formatted content, at least on my phone) Guess which product I will not be buying today?

Lucky for you I'm not selling anything. Also, like I said, it's in alpha. Almost nothing is working. I just wanted to get it in production so I could start tracking my sites. No worries etatoby, just wanted to share an alternative. EDIT: Thanks for your comment though, I just thought of some ways I can improve usability by using to explain why JS is used for something.

> Lucky for you I'm not selling anything

Hmm there is a pretty big "Pricing" section in the middle of the page for me

Re: Using the Web for a Day with JavaScript Turned Off

#159

Post by NetOpWibby »

graysonk wrote: post #158
NetOpWibby wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lucky for you I'm not selling anything. Also, like I said, it's in alpha. Almost nothing is working. I just wanted to get it in production so I could start tracking my sites. No worries etatoby, just wanted to share an alternative. EDIT: Thanks for your comment though, I just thought of some ways I can improve usability by using to explain why JS is used for something.

> Lucky for you I'm not selling anything Hmm there is a pretty big "Pricing" section in the middle of the page for me

Well yeah, when it's done. As in, no time soon.

Re: Using the Web for a Day with JavaScript Turned Off

#160

Post by JdeBP »

amiga-workbench wrote: post #56
nabla9 wrote: post #22

http://lite.cnn.io/en https://text.npr.org/ Every site should have a plain html option. Or create their html so that it works fine without js or cnn.

Bring back gopher, then there's no way these script kiddies can muck up the web.

I actually did.

* gopher://jdebp.info./1/

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