Do you think it's important to support non javascript users?

[JimL]

Statistics have shown that 0.2% of users have javascript disabled. On top of that my own experience from me and people I know running noscript, tell me that most users will enable js if a site requires it.

Before the big argument for “fall back support” was that most developers did exactly that. They made a non-js page and then sprinkled some Jquery over it to make “fancy things happen”. Then it was just to make sure that the fancy changes didn’t break the normal rendering without js.

Today we seem to be transitioning from “web sites” to “web apps” that are built with heavy js front end frameworks like Backbone, React, Angular, etc. There would be an immense work load to implement these pages/apps as both a dynamic and rich single page application using , and an entirely separate static server-generated page without js.

I no longer believe we have to commit to support the shrinking number of non js users.

Do you?

[Redscouse]

Back in the day I was very aware of non-js browsers and did everything I could to make the site(s) usable by these visitors.

One day I read an article somewhere that went into great detail about the pros and cons of js. The author finished by saying something along the lines of ‘hey, this is the year 2008(or similar) visitors need to get with the times and turn it on!’

This line kind of hit home with me as I’d spent a lot of time accounting for these people who are in a shrinking minority. So, I made the decision I would no longer support non-js browsers. Using the no-script tag, I present the user with options on how to turn js on, whether they do or not is their call but the website won’t work as it should if they don’t, but really, I couldn’t care less, their loss not mine.

Obviously if you’re a client and want to support no-script I will adhere to your wishes - but not until i’ve tried my very best to change your mind.
Js is not the ‘big bad wolf’ people once thought it was, turn it on and enjoy the web in all it’s glory! 8)

Red