There is a pure HTML Gmail, and it still works

Re:There is a pure HTML Gmail, and it still works by userbinator on Wednesday April 02, 2014 @03:01AM (#7514022)

Another long-time default-JS-off user here. The majority of exploits rely on JS to work, and by turning it off I've eliminated a huge attack area. I got hit with drive-by malware a long time ago, turned off JS not long after that, and have been malware-free ever since; and I visit some of the more shady parts of the Internet often.

A lot of others keep telling me "but you're missing out on tons of cool stuff", to which I reply "most of what JS is used for, I do not find 'cool'."

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Re:There is a pure HTML Gmail, and it still works by Spiritus on Wednesday April 02, 2014 @08:23AM (#7514964)

How about tons of useful stuff then?

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Re:There is a pure HTML Gmail, and it still works by blueskin_ on Wednesday April 02, 2014 @09:58AM (#7515520)

I've yet to see one that's genuinely useful, and no, replying to a forum thread etc without a pageload doesn't count.

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Re:There is a pure HTML Gmail, and it still works by Spiritus on Wednesday April 02, 2014 @02:04PM (#7517631)

Since this post is about Gmail, I'll just stick to that an can still name a couple of useful things from the top of my head:

- autocomplete of e-mail addresses

- collapsing/expanding nested e-mail conversations

- search suggestions

- navigating your inbox while simultaneously composing a new e-mail

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Re:There is a pure HTML Gmail, and it still works by klibertp on Wednesday April 02, 2014 @05:20PM (#7519119)

Points 2 and 4 are doable with CSS. The rest is possible to approximate with some combination of forms, iframes and continuation-based backend. No "onkeyup" of course, but enter key can work nicely.

Actually, I agree with both sides of a debate here: progressive enhancement is a really great idea and moreover it's completely insane to require JS and lots of potentially buggy and maybe even harmful JS libraries just to see what the page is about. On the other hand, non-JS and JS-based designs and implementations are just too different to be developed together - I know, I tried, multiple times - and what you really get is a blatant violation of DRY principle and twice as high cost.

In short, until we have a set of non-JS components (HTML5 new input types are an example), which are common and make it possible to translate JS-based design to non-JS one without whole page redesign, we're going to see people over-relying on JS and not providing alternatives. Which sucks.

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Re:There is a pure HTML Gmail, and it still works by gfodor on Thursday April 03, 2014 @01:38AM (#7521145)

Whether or not something is possible with CSS instead of JS is completely irrelevant to the argument that by turning off JS you are missing out on useful functionality implemented in JS, like the aforementioned GMail features.

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