Switching off JavaScript makes me love the internet all over again

Posted by ilrwbwrkhv on Saturday June 13, 2020 @02:14PM
from the self-post dept.

Things are so fast and zippy. Things don't jump up and down as you go to tap. On mobile web the differences are even starker. Has anyone tried switching it off? How has your experience been?

( 10 comments | 25 points | on HN )

Re:Switching off JavaScript makes me love the internet all o... by wtracy on Saturday June 13, 2020 @02:57PM (#23511744)

Definitely look into one of the browser extensions that lets you whitelist JavaScript for individual domains. There's always going to be something that you'll need to use that requires JavaScript.

Otherwise, yeah, it's awesome.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Switching off JavaScript makes me love the internet all o... by nor-and-or-not on Saturday June 13, 2020 @07:52PM (#23513883)

Yes, I use Firefox with uMatrix and JavaScript disabled, except for some hand-picked sites where I have JS enabled.

So if a website I open doesn't work without JS and also doesn't show anything when disabling its stylesheet, I simply ignore it and move on. I have no mercy for websites spinning up my laptop's fan.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Switching off JavaScript makes me love the internet all o... by mekster on Monday June 15, 2020 @08:43AM (#23526679)

It gets tedious as you need to keep enabling JS on sites that require them, which is quite a bit. Some sites don't even show anything with JS disabled, worse, still nothing until cookies/local storage is allowed.

You'd have a better experience using ad blocker than killing JS.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Switching off JavaScript makes me love the internet all o... by kevsim on Saturday June 13, 2020 @02:30PM (#23511512)

I guess you’ll hit a lot of SPAs that don’t work at all, but then again you can always opt in on those.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Switching off JavaScript makes me love the internet all o... by maxharris on Saturday June 13, 2020 @04:11PM (#23512296)

Switching off my CPU makes me love my computer all over again.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Switching off JavaScript makes me love the internet all o... by peace2all on Sunday June 14, 2020 @12:07PM (#23518776)

Amen! Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Switching off JavaScript makes me love the internet all o... by gabrielsroka on Saturday June 13, 2020 @07:17PM (#23513678)

I use Brave for Android for this reason. It's great!

I should try it on my beefy Windows laptop, too. Browsing with JavaScript and ads makes my CPU go insane.

What a tangled web we've woven.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Switching off JavaScript makes me love the internet all o... by skinnymuch on Sunday June 14, 2020 @12:02AM (#23515022)

How is Brave relevant to no javascript on mobile (or otherwise)? Any more than any other browser.

For no ads (not that Brave actually blocks all ads. It’s good but not great), there’s different ways to accomplish that on mobile.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Switching off JavaScript makes me love the internet all o... by gabrielsroka on Sunday June 14, 2020 @07:28AM (#23516877)

Brave allows you to block scripts with 2 taps [0]. I can't even count how many taps it takes on Chrome for Android--at least 6, then you have to type in the URL, etc. [1] And Google's own help site doesn't explain how--hmm, I wonder why.

[0] https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/articles/360022806212-How...

[1] https://www.digitional.com/how-to-disable-javascript-ads-in-...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Switching off JavaScript makes me love the internet all o... by Awelton on Sunday June 14, 2020 @02:44AM (#23515614)

There are very few websites I allow to run javascript. I'm against the entire idea of running remote code for the privelage of having paywalls, cookie pop-ups, newsletter invites, scrolljacking, and spyware. Javascript was a mistake.

[ Parent | on HN ]