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

Designing to degrade gracefully is the most that should be done. We are moving/have moved past the point of simple web "sites" to web "applications". The only option besides client side scripting to add round trips to the server.

I think (personal opinion) that the "don't use JavaScript" comes more from a lack of understanding of what JavaScript is/does than any actual market data that shows a significant number of people are browsing without it.

Answer 2

if you want your site viewable by the top 100 companies in the US. I would write without javascript.

Answer 3

There's addon for Firefox called NoScript which have 27,501,701 downloads. If you site won't work without JavaScript most of those guys wouldn't want to use it.

Why you would install that addon? Ever wanted to get rid of the popup on the site that cover the most of the useful text you want to rid? Or disable flash animation? Or be sure that evil site won't steal your cookies?

Answer 4

If you expect your app to work for everyone, you'll need a backup for all your javascript functionality. If it's form validation, you should also check the data on the server before saving it. So the answer is Yes, it's okay, but have a backup. Do not rely on it.

Answer 5

I think the days of "content sites only" are gone. What we see now is WWW emerging as the platform of web applications, and the latest developments in the browser front (speeding up JS in particular) ar indication of this. There can be no yes/no answer to your question - you should decide, where on content site<---->web application continuum your site is and how essential is the experience provided by JavaScript. In my opinion - yes it is acceptable to have web applications which require Javascript to function.

Answer 6

Degrading gracefully is a must. At a minimum, you sure make use of the NOSCRIPT tag in order to inform potential customers first that your site requires javascript, and secondly why you require it.

If it's for flashy menus and presentations that I could honestly care less about then I probably won't bother coming back. If there's a real reason that you're requiring javascript (client-side validation on forms, or a real situation that requires AJAX for performance reasons) then say so and your visitors will respond accordingly.

I install extensions that limit both Javascript and Cookies. Websites that don't prominently state their requirements of both usually don't get a second visit unless there's a real need for it.