Bookmark: "Why your website should work without Javascript"

Sebastian Greger

Bookmarked:

Why your website should work without Javascript endtimes.dev

I can’t remember how many times I’ve had this discussion:

The obvious answer to why you should build a website that doesn’t need js is… because some people don’t use js. But how many?!

For some reason, the myth that users without JavaScript don’t exist, refuses to die. So thank you to the author of this comprehensive collection of both statistics (1% of millions is still a lot of people!) and – more importantly – all the other reasons that may, even temporarily, turn web users into “users with no JavaScript”:

  • Errors in the JavaScript
  • Incompatible versions
  • A disruptive browser extension
  • Network or transmission errors, incl. poor mobile connections
  • Browsers throttling script downloads
  • Unavailable CDNs
  • Firewalls or local policies
  • Injected code by operators or others

And on top of that, the motivations people may have to turn it off themselves, such as a11y, security, privacy, cost, bandwidth, CPU, battery, or simply preference.

So many reasons why users without JavaScript are still users that should be considered!

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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