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Do you never buy anything online? Or play an online game? Or use Google maps? I can think of lots of websites that I regularly use where JavaScript is important

Do you never buy anything online? Or play an online game? Or use Google maps? I can think of lots of websites that I regularly use where JavaScript is important. I agree it is best to limit it, but it definitely has lots of uses.

dooglius 8y ago
FWIW I generally take out my phone and use the Android Google Maps app, because it is considerably faster than waiting for the web version to load.
userbinator 8y ago
With the exception of certain games, none of those other applications require JavaScript. Form submissions and such have been part of HTML for a long time, and map viewing most certainly doesn't need JS. See this comment from 3 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10872194 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10872194 Unfortunately the map images in the article there no longer work because Google has decided to "deprecate" that API, but there's absolutely nothing about serving what is essentially a large tiled image that requires the capability to run arbitrary code on the client. In fact, here's a tile URL I just found that still works: http://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=y&x=1325&y=3143&z=13 http://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=y&x=1325&y=3143&z=13 JavaScript is like Flash: useful or even essential for some things, but far too overused these days.
- GhostVII 8y ago
  Sure, map viewing definitely doesn't need JavaScript, but Google Maps definitely does. I don't see how you could reasonably implement something like Google street view without JavaScript. Even just having the different locations on the map fade in and out of view as you zoom requires JavaScript, as far as I know. Personally, I don't want to have to use a stripped down version of maps, I want to be able to go into street view and see the locations, and smoothly see more detail as I zoom in. Perhaps a better example is video calling. Definitely can't do that without JavaScript. My point is that disabling JavaScript entirely eliminates several classes of websites. I think it is better to have reasonable limits to JavaScript than make these types of websites impossible.
  - c22 8y ago
    Why does this functionality have to be embedded in a website? I use google earth and skype to look at maps and make video calls. I don't feel like I'm missing out.

dooglius 8y ago

FWIW I generally take out my phone and use the Android Google Maps app, because it is considerably faster than waiting for the web version to load.

userbinator 8y ago

With the exception of certain games, none of those other applications require JavaScript. Form submissions and such have been part of HTML for a long time, and map viewing most certainly doesn't need JS. See this comment from 3 years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10872194 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10872194 Unfortunately the map images in the article there no longer work because Google has decided to "deprecate" that API, but there's absolutely nothing about serving what is essentially a large tiled image that requires the capability to run arbitrary code on the client. In fact, here's a tile URL I just found that still works: http://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=y&x=1325&y=3143&z=13 http://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=y&x=1325&y=3143&z=13 JavaScript is like Flash: useful or even essential for some things, but far too overused these days.

GhostVII 8y ago
Sure, map viewing definitely doesn't need JavaScript, but Google Maps definitely does. I don't see how you could reasonably implement something like Google street view without JavaScript. Even just having the different locations on the map fade in and out of view as you zoom requires JavaScript, as far as I know. Personally, I don't want to have to use a stripped down version of maps, I want to be able to go into street view and see the locations, and smoothly see more detail as I zoom in. Perhaps a better example is video calling. Definitely can't do that without JavaScript. My point is that disabling JavaScript entirely eliminates several classes of websites. I think it is better to have reasonable limits to JavaScript than make these types of websites impossible.
- c22 8y ago
  Why does this functionality have to be embedded in a website? I use google earth and skype to look at maps and make video calls. I don't feel like I'm missing out.