Should I worry about javascript support?

Question

I've developed a ajax enabled site. However, the site does not currently work without javascript. The site works well on any browser that I've tested as well as iPhone/Nokia phones.

However, should I still worry about javascript support?

I know there are techniques that would get my site to work both with or without javascript, but the refactoring would require some time.

Edit: This application is targeted for our customers that will be using the the system to fill in and handle forms. Professional use mostly.

Answer 1

You should always try to keep in mind that a certain percentage of endusers disables javascript in their browser. On the other hand most modern sites don't work anymore or don't always degrade gracefully. It's up to you to either convince your users to enable javascript or to create at least a page with minimal functionality which can be run without javascript.

Grz, Kris.

Answer 2

It depends.

If you're expecting good chunk of traffic from the mobile web-browsers then yes, you must refactor the website to make sure it works well with those client. If majority of the traffic is coming from rich desktop web browsers then, it shouldn't be problem.

Answer 3

You could display a message to users with javascript disabled saying that the site will not work properly:

<noscript>
    Hey, it seems you have Javascript disabled. Get out of my lawn!
</noscript>

If this is a big deal or not depends on your target audience.

Answer 4

Most browser today have javascript enabled. One thing to keep in mind is that crawlers/spiders from for example google do not have javascript on.

Answer 5

This depends entirely on your users.

If you can make sure your users browser supports JavaScript, then it's up to you to ensure the actual code is valid and complies to JavaScript standards.

Many argue that pages has be readable by blind people and have all kinds of fallback options, but this depends on your users, and what you require of them.

If you really have to support all kind of phones, and weird devices, just create a separate front-end.

Answer 6

Javascript is Huge now and since facebook and other large JS Based site, browsers have pushed out new innovations to deal with the latest web changes when it comes to JS

Because of this JavaScript is widely supported and you should not worry dramatically but it still needs to be delt with.

A Simple <noscript> tag to display a message to a user telling them they need javascript to continue

<noscript>
   Please enable javascript to use this site
</noscript>

Keep checking your analytics software such as google, mint etc to see what your visitors are using.

That will help you decide how much you have to worry about it

A way to Track non JavaScript enabled browsers is like so

<noscript><img src="noscript.php" /></noscript>

This will load a php file as an image!

the php file

<?php
   //Track the user details here inside your database or whatever so you can then see.



   //Here send back a 1x1 pixal so the DOM IS ok and to reduce load
   $pxl= imagecreate( 1, 1);
   header( "Content-type: image/png" );
   imagepng( $pxl);
   imagedestroy( $pxl);
?>

Answer 7

AFAIK, Google bot does not support JavaScript. So, if you want your site to be indexed by search engines, make content accessible without JavaScript.