Should you design websites that require JavaScript in this day & age?

Question

It\'s fall of 2008, and I still hear developers say that you should not design a site that requires JavaScript.

I understand that you should develop sites that degra

Answer 1

You should be tying the functionality of your website to your audience. That being said, every modern browser (save for the mobile platform) includes javascript, and so unless your audience includes luddites with decade old computers, you can assume they have javascript.

The people you need to worry about, then, are those that specifically turn it off. This includes:

• Corporate networks with tough security (not common, but some financial and defense institutions)
• Paranoid web-heads

So, first, who is your audience? Are there other websites that are comparable to your target? Look at their site and success - do they degrade gracefully, and would yo be satisfied with their level of success?

If you are targeting mobile applications, though, you can't guarantee javascript.

-Adam