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I want to agree, but don't. Javascript is nice. Leave a comment on HN, then push back to go out to the home page. Wait, you're back at your comment. This fl

I want to agree, but don't. Javascript is nice. Leave a comment on HN, then push back to go out to the home page. Wait, you're back at your comment. This flow is obviously not ideal, and would be prevented with a little Javascript.

Pxtl 6y ago
Also, it would be basically impossible to host comment threads on video content if the video reset every time you submitted a comment. By comparison, Twitter's video experience is still awful in that you can't multitask and join the conversation on a video tweet.
- ysavir 6y ago
  Thankfully, it's not en either/or situation. The principle that site designers need to start abiding by is to not reinvent the browser--there's no need to use JS for routing or single page apps. The browser does that fantastically already. All that's needed of JS is to add asynchronicity to pages that need to update state without interrupting a running service.
- edjrage 6y ago
  Ever heard of iframes?
  - buzzerbetrayed 6y ago
    I really hope iframes aren’t the “right” way to do just about anything.
  - Zarel 6y ago
    iframes are horrible on the back button and have a number of other UX issues that make them overall much worse than JavaScript.
userbinator 6y ago
I've been using HN without JS ever since I found this site, and it works perfectly fine.
- buzzerbetrayed 6y ago
  I think you misunderstand me. I’m not saying the site doesn’t work fine without JavaScript. Just that the back button usually takes you to the home page, except when it annoyingly takes you to the “edit comment” page that has already been submitted.
millstone 6y ago
The old web placed HTML and CSS as primary, and used JS for incidental tasks like form validation, or fixing up the back button. The big idea was "graceful degradation": sites were expected to work without JS, at the cost of (say) a server-side error instead of immediate feedback. Modern reddit does not gracefully degrade: it requires JS to click buttons, to load images, to scroll, etc. Old reddit still works well without JS. So does Google for that matter.
- 8note 6y ago
  The old web was optimized for devices that may or may not be able to run much JavaScript or of they did, it was a patchwork of different APIs from different browsers. The new web caters to advertisers, and rightly assumes that everyone has a browser that follows JavaScript standards.
edjrage 6y ago
> would be prevented with a little Javascript ... Or better standards that don't require JavaScript. The jump from "we need seamless navigation" to "let's use a Turing-complete language" makes zero sense.

Pxtl 6y ago

Also, it would be basically impossible to host comment threads on video content if the video reset every time you submitted a comment. By comparison, Twitter's video experience is still awful in that you can't multitask and join the conversation on a video tweet.

ysavir 6y ago
Thankfully, it's not en either/or situation. The principle that site designers need to start abiding by is to not reinvent the browser--there's no need to use JS for routing or single page apps. The browser does that fantastically already. All that's needed of JS is to add asynchronicity to pages that need to update state without interrupting a running service.
edjrage 6y ago
Ever heard of iframes?
- buzzerbetrayed 6y ago
  I really hope iframes aren’t the “right” way to do just about anything.
- Zarel 6y ago
  iframes are horrible on the back button and have a number of other UX issues that make them overall much worse than JavaScript.

userbinator 6y ago

I've been using HN without JS ever since I found this site, and it works perfectly fine.

buzzerbetrayed 6y ago
I think you misunderstand me. I’m not saying the site doesn’t work fine without JavaScript. Just that the back button usually takes you to the home page, except when it annoyingly takes you to the “edit comment” page that has already been submitted.

millstone 6y ago

The old web placed HTML and CSS as primary, and used JS for incidental tasks like form validation, or fixing up the back button. The big idea was "graceful degradation": sites were expected to work without JS, at the cost of (say) a server-side error instead of immediate feedback. Modern reddit does not gracefully degrade: it requires JS to click buttons, to load images, to scroll, etc. Old reddit still works well without JS. So does Google for that matter.

8note 6y ago
The old web was optimized for devices that may or may not be able to run much JavaScript or of they did, it was a patchwork of different APIs from different browsers. The new web caters to advertisers, and rightly assumes that everyone has a browser that follows JavaScript standards.

edjrage 6y ago

> would be prevented with a little Javascript ... Or better standards that don't require JavaScript. The jump from "we need seamless navigation" to "let's use a Turing-complete language" makes zero sense.