The two approaches to JavaScript (and why we need a third)

When it comes to the web, I was a curmudgeon in my early twenties. Among many firm beliefs, I was against requiring JavaScript. To do so seemed like a bad idea since its browser support was unpredictable and many people disabled it due to popups ¹. Most web folks agreed with me at the time, but a new, bigger crowd has gathered, creating a second approach to JavaScript.

The two approaches:

1. Never require JavaScript, because your site might break.
2. Only support select browsers with settings just so. Use otherwise at your own risk.

Both of these approaches are pretty single-minded. Google Maps sort of lent credence to the second approach, much like ESPN’s 2003 redesign fueled the modern CSS layout explosion.

However, I have been searching for a middle ground in my work with BestPlaces. For one, some of our partners fall into the group that does not want to require JavaScript. Secondly, providing technical support can be a nightmare:

• Users don’t know what JavaScript is.
• Users don’t know how to enable JavaScript (and there is an additional pain for the supporter in navigating the preferences of every browser type).
• Users don’t know that they disabled JavaScript (maybe nephew did it two years ago to stop popups).
• Most importantly, nobody likes being told that they are unsupportable and it looks unprofessional to pass the buck.

Since it was such a long-believed creed that JavaScript should not be required, we are pretty good at designing sites this way. It seems like even the most JavaScript-heavy apps, like Google Maps, could be designed first without JavaScript and then adding the bits that make it so much easier to use.

Ryan Campbell agrees that we can degrade gently and he even shows how to do it. I’m all for giving up my curmudgeonly past, but I don’t want to forget the lessons that got us here. Let’s be responsible, let’s stop the buck. JavaScript recommended, not JavaScript required.

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1 – Flash tangent: With Flash popups on the rise, look out for increased use of Flash blockers unless someone (browsers? Macromedia?) creates a means of blocking Flash popups.