views:

141

answers:

2

Does a browser download JS files if the user has JS disabled?

I'm wondering if the browser downloads the JS files and ignores them or ignores the download all together.

Do different browsers act differently in this case?

Edit:

I asked a follow up question to this question here.

+4  A: 

The best way to find out something like this is to use a tool like fiddler With this tool you can examine a web request and see exactly what is going on. As Nick says above different browsers may act differently, but at least this will let you know for sure.

Dylan
Awesome! Thanks for that link. I use the net tab in firebug, but this is great as it will monitor everything. Now I just need to find someone that has already tested this on every browser is existence. ;)
Bryan Downing
+5  A: 

Some testing (on Ubuntu 10.04) so far yields

  • Opera: doesn't download (disabled JS in preferences)
  • Firefox: doesn't download (disabled JS in preferences or with NoScript)
  • Google Chrome/Chromium: downloads (disabled JS via -disable-javascript parameter)
  • SRWare Iron (Chrome without the nonsense): doesn't download (disabled JS via "Options" - "Under The Hood" - "Content Settings" - "JavaScript" - "Content Settings" - "Do not allow any site to run JavaScript")
  • IE 8: doesn't download

Edit: Made this a community wiki, so feel free to add your results.

Ventero
Thanks for the initial testing. I'll try to test some other browsers in the next couple of days.
Bryan Downing