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Too much dependance on javascript?

I’ve installed the NoScript Firefox extension to protect against XSS and other javascript-based attacks, but am finding that lots of sites are depending on javascript for basic functionality 🙁

To all web devs – please remember Checkpoint 6.3 of the WCAG: Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other programmatic objects are turned off or not supported.

This entry was posted by on Thursday, May 21st, 2009 at 10:56 am and is filed under Accessibility, Javascript, quickies, rant, security, stupid, Tech, usability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Responses to “Too much dependance on javascript?”

  1. Stephen Downes Says:
    May 21st, 2009 at 5:22 pm

    I don’t think that a document posted in 1999 remains relevant. The web of today is a programmatic environment. It is not reasonable to expect designers to replicate the functionality of the web without using Javascript.

  2. David Balch Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 10:38 am

    There’s certainly more work in creating a site that functions both with and without javascript; that’s a battle I have myself – trying to get the solid, widely accessible base, with an added layer of Web 2.0 shinyness on top. Hopefully the burden can be mitigated with good dev tools, but if, not the basics should still work.

    True enough, some things aren’t possible without JS, but my gripe is that sites are replacing basic functionality such as site navigation with JS-dependant widgets that don’t degrade gracefully.

    There are real web security risks that can be avoided by disabling javascript, so I think it is reasonable for at least basic functionality to work without it…