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In general, more and more sites encourage me to just leave Javascript turned off all the time. If they break, screw them, I'll go elsewhere. The only sites "sti

by _jal 9y ago

In general, more and more sites encourage me to just leave Javascript turned off all the time. If they break, screw them, I'll go elsewhere. The only sites "sticky" enough to make me put up with it are financial, and that's only because they all suck so changing solves nothing. 'Missing out' on Angular sites hasn't left me feel like I'm missing anything in my life. This ties in to the discussion of Craig's List the other day. It is so refreshing to use a site that doesn't try to be clever. I understand if people find it ugly, but I don't - simple is good, and I don't care if sites follow whatever design trend is hot this week. Usability is far more important.

hn_throwaway_99 9y ago
> If they break, screw them, I'll go elsewhere. I think that option is going to greatly constrain where you are able to go on the web. The vast majority of ecommerce sites I visit will break with JS completely turned off.
- jehna1 9y ago
  I've been using Internet for almost two years with JS disabled by default. My experience is, that while ecommerce sites may break, most of them are quite usable even without JS. Most good blogs work just fine. And the ones that don't I usually don't bother reading.
- devrandomguy 9y ago
  OTOH, these "universal" web apps/sites can work quite well without JS. As long as the developer isn't doing silly things like using <button> as a link, or using an anchor to submit a form. At one point, I built a sortable filterable table for an admin UI, using React. One of the admins was a "no js" guy, and he thanked me for building the whole thing in functional HTML. Up until that point, I had no idea that the admin side of the system was even usable without JS; that was just a natural consequence of optimizing for SEO and load speed (server side rendering, URL representation for all significant state).
- _jal 9y ago
  Far fewer than you'd think, at least among the ecommerce shops I buy stuff from. And those are mostly the huge shops, which are mostly interchangeable as far as I'm concerned.
sgustard 9y ago
So no Google Maps for you? I remember mapquest 20 years ago where you'd pan the map by clicking arrows and reloading the page. Good times! Usability totally won that day.
- _jal 9y ago
  I use Apple maps when I need them, but that isn't often. I don't drive much, and when I do I use Navigon for turn-by-turn, which I bought before that feature became a free thing. I don't use Google services in my personal life. (I have less control over vendors at work.)
- lucb1e 9y ago
  > no Google Maps for you? I roughly use OpenStreetMap 80% of the time, Bing 5% and Google Maps 15%. Looking up where an address is? OSM. Routing? OSM. Opening hours for places I go semi-regularly (but not often enough to remember them)? OSM (I put them in myself). Footpaths, caves, info on towers (like GSM/3G), public transport routes, etc.? OSM. Aerial imagery? Bing (much faster than Google Maps). Traffic info? Google Maps (I'm still casually looking for alternatives). Searching a shop? Google Maps. In the Netherlands OSM is of equivalent quality in some categories (road network, addresses), better quality in others (trails, meta info about towers or cave entrances or so), or worse in yet other categories (information about businesses, at least outside of city centers).
mazamats 9y ago
Yup. I disable JavaScript and cookies. I also use extensions to enable them on certain sites. Just tap the extension icon and it will reload with JS enabled. You'd be surprised how fast webpages load without JS
Exuma 9y ago
Lol I always love replies like this. Scuse my french, but are you fucking kidding me? So basically you don't use 80% of the internet because the occasional site annoys you? Do you also cut off your hands when you get dirt on them??? People have been saying this since like 2000's, and the more advanced JS websites get, the more cringeworthy this comment gets. It's 2017, just fucking leave javascript on and use ghostry + ublock origin.

by _jal 9y ago

hn_throwaway_99 9y ago

> If they break, screw them, I'll go elsewhere. I think that option is going to greatly constrain where you are able to go on the web. The vast majority of ecommerce sites I visit will break with JS completely turned off.

jehna1 9y ago
I've been using Internet for almost two years with JS disabled by default. My experience is, that while ecommerce sites may break, most of them are quite usable even without JS. Most good blogs work just fine. And the ones that don't I usually don't bother reading.
devrandomguy 9y ago
OTOH, these "universal" web apps/sites can work quite well without JS. As long as the developer isn't doing silly things like using <button> as a link, or using an anchor to submit a form. At one point, I built a sortable filterable table for an admin UI, using React. One of the admins was a "no js" guy, and he thanked me for building the whole thing in functional HTML. Up until that point, I had no idea that the admin side of the system was even usable without JS; that was just a natural consequence of optimizing for SEO and load speed (server side rendering, URL representation for all significant state).
_jal 9y ago
Far fewer than you'd think, at least among the ecommerce shops I buy stuff from. And those are mostly the huge shops, which are mostly interchangeable as far as I'm concerned.

sgustard 9y ago

So no Google Maps for you? I remember mapquest 20 years ago where you'd pan the map by clicking arrows and reloading the page. Good times! Usability totally won that day.

_jal 9y ago
I use Apple maps when I need them, but that isn't often. I don't drive much, and when I do I use Navigon for turn-by-turn, which I bought before that feature became a free thing. I don't use Google services in my personal life. (I have less control over vendors at work.)
lucb1e 9y ago
> no Google Maps for you? I roughly use OpenStreetMap 80% of the time, Bing 5% and Google Maps 15%. Looking up where an address is? OSM. Routing? OSM. Opening hours for places I go semi-regularly (but not often enough to remember them)? OSM (I put them in myself). Footpaths, caves, info on towers (like GSM/3G), public transport routes, etc.? OSM. Aerial imagery? Bing (much faster than Google Maps). Traffic info? Google Maps (I'm still casually looking for alternatives). Searching a shop? Google Maps. In the Netherlands OSM is of equivalent quality in some categories (road network, addresses), better quality in others (trails, meta info about towers or cave entrances or so), or worse in yet other categories (information about businesses, at least outside of city centers).

mazamats 9y ago

Yup. I disable JavaScript and cookies. I also use extensions to enable them on certain sites. Just tap the extension icon and it will reload with JS enabled. You'd be surprised how fast webpages load without JS

Exuma 9y ago

Lol I always love replies like this. Scuse my french, but are you fucking kidding me? So basically you don't use 80% of the internet because the occasional site annoys you? Do you also cut off your hands when you get dirt on them??? People have been saying this since like 2000's, and the more advanced JS websites get, the more cringeworthy this comment gets. It's 2017, just fucking leave javascript on and use ghostry + ublock origin.