>If your page loads quickly and not all that often, you can get pretty far without Javascript. If you are willing to tolerate a pageload on each interaction, you don't need any Javascript.
To put some concrete examples to that...
The HN page uses javascript[1] for the upvote/downvote buttons and also to collapse/expand comments. It would be very disruptive and jarring to reload an entire page after someone clicks a vote button. Also, mobile phone users would be doubly punished since a page reload is slower than desktop highspeed internet.
A good example of a website not requiring javascript without penalizing user-interface usability is Wikipedia text pages.
This advice only applies for non interactive stuff though. What if I want to build a spreadsheet, audio editor, vector-based illustrator, etc. in the browser?
Re:When Does a Project Need React?
by elevensies on Monday April 24, 2017 @03:07PM
(#14187073)
Yeah, if the system can't be represented as hyperlinked documents, then you're going to be married to the browser APIs which are in Javascript -- so you can either use Javascript or a tool that outputs Javascript.
For example, if you inspect this page, you'll see that it has about 150 lines of Javascript.
There are two ways to change a webpage:
- manipulate it with Javascript
- reload a new page with the changes applied
If your page loads quickly and not all that often, you can get pretty far without Javascript. If you are willing to tolerate a pageload on each interaction, you don't need any Javascript.