Bookmark: "A day without Javascript"

Sebastian Greger

Bookmarked:

A day without Javascript sonniesedge.co.uk

It must have been in 2006, in my first full-time web-related job back at Satama Interactive that I was not only introduced to, but I myself actively promoted (in our then state-of-the-art web standards advocacy group, together with Harri Kilpiö and others) that any website should work without JavaScript enabled.

Back in those days this was mainly driven by contemporary accessibility technology largely relying on just the barebone HTML, as well as with considerations of creating light-weight sites for the then-still-ubiquous slow dialup connections and early mobile browsers. “Progressive Enhancement” was a term already then, so this elementary concept of making websites available without relying solely on JavaScript has been around for a decade and more.

Yet, looking at the current developments in some fields of “web technology”, I am not really suprised of the very mixed results Charlie at Sonniesedge gets as she sets out to try browsing the web for a day with JS disabled. Accessibility and good UX is something else! (…but credit also to a few surprise performers, such as Amazon!)

Oh, and for the usual “Everyone has JavaScript” fraction - here’s a little infographic why you may want to reconsider your position, even in 2017: “Everyone has JavaScript, right?” by Stuart Langridge.

(via adactio)

I'm Sebastian, Sociologist and Interaction Designer. This journal is mostly about bringing toge­ther social science and design for inclusive, privacy-focused, and sustainable "human-first" digital strategies. I also tend to a "digital garden" with carefully curated resources.

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