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Google Homepage Without JS  (View post)

stefan2904 [PersonRank 10]

Wednesday, May 23, 2007
17 years ago5,908 views

wow, thats realy bad!

fgdsgf [PersonRank 0]

17 years ago #

is it really that bad?

I mean, 99% of the people do have js activated (at least in my google analytics)....

then if your mobile phone doesn't have it, you'll be on the mobile google anyways.... or you type in your query first, and then change the search....

Ionut Alex. Chitu [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

<< I mean, 99% of the people do have js activated (at least in my google analytics) >>

That must be a joke. Analytics uses JavaScript to track users.

rodflash.com [PersonRank 1]

17 years ago #

At least you still can do a Google search. The Universal Search seems to work too so you still can use other searches inside the results page.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

> That must be a joke. Analytics uses JavaScript
> to track users.

(Hmm, why don't they at least use <noscript> in their Urchin snippet to track non-JS users?)

Ryan [PersonRank 0]

17 years ago #

Isn't it time we stop worrying about users without javascript?

I still don't understand why so many companies block it. It's an integral part of the web.

Javascript has been out now for the last 5 versions of microsoft operating systems. It's high time we make it a standard.

I'm all for forcing your users to allow javascript or showing them nothing at all.

On the Google note, almost every service linked to in that menu requires javascript anyway once you get there.

KJ [PersonRank 1]

17 years ago #

I think a lot of people are forgetting that the search is now a universal search meaning the search result will return as many relevant items, imgaes, video, maps, etc.

The only thing I dont like is after the search, if JS is turned off, you cant narrow down your search using those specific searches.

Aaron Bassett [PersonRank 1]

17 years ago #

[put at-character here]Ionut Alex: My first thought was that they could see the number of requests for the .js file from a domain and if out of 100 requests they had 99 with stats and 1 without they would know that 1% didn't have Javascript enabled.

But after a quick check using Firebug apparently (at least in FF) if you disable Javascript your browser no longer fetches the external js file, which is the sensible thing to do.

Anyone know if this behavior is the same in other browsers? We all know IE doesn't always do the sensible thing ;)

KJ [PersonRank 1]

17 years ago #

I take that back, after the search, there is a link at the top of a specific result that narrows down the search to a specific search type.

News results for...
Image results for...
etc.

And that grey horizontal bar below the search box shows specific search types

Web Video Images

Try: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=simpsons+&btnG=Search

Ionut Alex. Chitu [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Try (with JS turned off):
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=javascript+accessibility&btnG=Search

Michael Martinez [PersonRank 5]

17 years ago #

12-15% of surfers either do not have Javascript or have it disabled. This was a bad move on Google's part, in my opinion.

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

12-15% according to which source Michael?

Andrew M [PersonRank 0]

17 years ago #

Dude, this is one of the deadliest sins of web programming: making a page unusable without JavaScript.

Colin Colehour [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

I'm surprised Google doesn't have a way to redirect to the original Google layout if someone does not have JS turned on. Their old layout worked on so many different browsers that it allowed for the largest visitor audience.

Juha-Matti Laurio [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

I have personally used these TheCounter.com statistics many years:
http://www.thecounter.com/stats/2007/May/javas.php

--clip--
Javascript 1.2+: 56460848 (95%)
Javascript <1.2: 67604 (0%)
Javascript false: 2804402 (4%)
--clip--

I.e. Javascript false is a situation when JS is disabled.

If you check the JavaScript Stats of February etc. you will see the same percentage again (see link Past Month).

Mambo [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

I don't think the issue is solely about the human user. You've *still* got to think about search bots, even though it's referring to a search engine's homepage... it's still a webpage that is crawlable.

Search bots can not all read JavaScript, mainly because they shouldn't need to. HTML is for content, which is what Google is after; JavaScript is for behaviour.

p.s. Google Analytics only tracks whether users have Java (not JavaScript) enabled. There's no <noscript> alternative, unlike StatCounter (although a homebrew might be possible).

Philipp Lenssen [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

And now... the Google homepage navigation works without JS (delivered as normal links, with a click on "more" sending you to Google's old "more" page). [Thanks Andrew F.!]

David Hetfield [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Oh, nice.
Thanks for the info Philipp ;)

Ionut Alex. Chitu [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

I noticed this a couple of days ago. Apparently, Google cares about these things (maybe Google News should also have the navigational links in the no-JS mode).

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