Have you recently ventured into your browser settings and disabled Javascript? It can be an enlightening experience, especially if your sites make heavy use of client-side interactions. About 18 months ago, I suggested degradable Javascript. It wasn’t a new idea, but it really seemed like the great divide between anti-JS and pro-JS camps was growing.
I was surprised to see that Google Maps, the supreme example of required Javascript, has a no-frills version. It’s very Web 1.0, but it works.
Google Maps without Javascript is not innovative, but it is still very usable. Impressive. Respectable. Respectful.
I doubt degradable Javascript like this will become the norm. Heck, in the last year I have written a lot of Javascript, but haven’t worried much about the disablers. Yet I still completely agree with what I wrote.
It turns out that it’s a lot of work to do it right. You first have to build a boring version of your app (which as my friend Sean explains, is inherently less than). Then you add frills. And now whenever you want to fix a bug or change a feature, you have to make sure everything still works in both versions.
That sounds not simple for the developer. Yet, this is a time to ask, simpler for whom? Because when done right, like the GMaps team has, the solution is very elegant for all users.
[…] Much of the Web relies on Javascript these days and thankfully most people have it on. If you’re creating a site for the general public, you still want to have a game-plan to deal with those surfing without it. […]