[NTLUG:Discuss] Javascript and CSS == Usable WWW browser? was Re: [NTLUG:Discuss] BrowseX (FAST, small browser) is outinBETA!!

[Jeremy Blosser]

Steve Baker [sjbaker1 at airmail.net] wrote:
> Jeremy Blosser wrote:
> > > Using ECMAscript controls to link to stuff instead of <a href=
> > > "whatever.html"> seems a false indicator of "eliteness."
> > 
> > Yes, unless you have an audience that isn't going to be web savvy and you
> > want to give them options for a 'back' button on the page.  The best you
> > can do in HTML is link back to a predefined page that may or may not be how
> > they got where they are.  With a scripted link you can access the browser's
> > history and work the same way the back button does.  There are other cases
> > where dynamically-generated links inline can save space/download
> > time/hassle for the user.
> 
> This is just typical of the 'fluff' that modern web pages accumulate.
> 
> Why the heck do we need one or more 'back' buttons that use all this
> Javascript gizmology simply to duplicate a prominently displayed and
> clearly labelled button that every browser already has?  Then accompany
> it with a few hundred bytes of graphics for the button itself and you
> have a waste of bandwidth as well as needless screen clutter.
> 
> Stoopid!

I was giving an example of a special case.  They happen.  Thinking one size
fits all doesn't really work on the web.  And I didn't say anything about
using a bloated image.  As I mentioned, using JS appropriately can actually
make pages load and render faster, since actions that affect information
the browser already has loaded don't require another trip to the server.

> Whilst JavaScript *can* be used for good - it's far more
> common for it to be used to support unnecessary bloat.

Yep.

> The worst thing about all this generated-on-the-fly material
> is the inability of search engines to index it and other pages
> to link to it.  That is a VERY great evil for the future of
> the Internet since it allows people to control our ability to
> quote them by pointing at what they said.

It's an evil for the future of the people that do it that way, too, because
it removes the ability for people to make normal use of their website.
People that don't leave a way to link into their data are turning away
users and shooting themselves in the foot.

-- 
Jeremy Blosser   |   jblosser at firinn.org   |   http://jblosser.firinn.org/
-----------------+-------------------------+------------------------------
the crises posed a question / just beneath the skin
the virtue in my veins replied / that quitters never win
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