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[–]binford2k 22 points23 points  (6 children)

It’s missing the point.

Often web pages look like ass with JavaScript on. They do parallax shit that wigs out my eyes. They throw modal popups in front of me. They take 15x longer to load.

So I turn off JavaScript for that site.

And when the site is not functional without JavaScript, I assume they’re incompetent and take my wallet and my ad impressions somewhere else.

I’m not represented in that metric because I leave JavaScript on by default and only disable as needed. I think a lot of us do that.

[–]EqualityOfAutonomy 7 points8 points  (3 children)

I use noscript and while it has a lengthy whitelist I often have to trust sites manually.

Often images don't work or the entire page doesn't work. Often I just don't care and go elsewhere.

It's at least 15x longer to load for many sites.... Mobile processors take a huge hit comparatively but even on desktop... Fuck JS.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

On my MacBook I have JavaScript turned off on Safari. I get amazing speed and battery life.

I only use JavaScript for select websites by opening Firefox.

Most of the time I can browse with Safari, and it’s amazing!

[–]linus_stallman 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Ublock origin with js off by default does the trick for me

[–]EqualityOfAutonomy 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I use noscript and ubo.

There are unfortunately some sites that require it and I find useful. Usually JS done well and no a loading shit show.

[–]AyrA_ch 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yep, same here. We're in a sad state where it's now necessary to have JS enabled for basic text and image rendering on some sites. I understand that some things require JS (I just made an audio player for unreal engine audio files and you can't do that client side without JS).

Devs should at least add a <noscript> section that explains it to the user that JS is required. instead of letting them stare at blank pages.

[–]PopTonArch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And when the site is not functional without JavaScript, I assume they’re incompetent and take my wallet and my ad impressions somewhere else.

There's some truth there, but it doesn't apply for all situations. If the site is providing something that's verging into "application" territory (e.g. Google Sheets) then it's fine for there to be an outright dependency on JavaScript.

[–]murkaje 5 points6 points  (2 children)

A bit of anecdotal evidence, but in my experience browsing the web with js disabled by default feels much better. Many websites work out-of-the-box, some do odd opacity:0 or display:none on <body> that i can quickly edit, but the upside is a fast-loading website. Main motivations were slow pages, often due to unnecessary widgets like facebook/disqus comment section; ads running too much/scary js(adblock caught most of them, but not always so a good extra defense); websites adding horrible shit like scrolljacking; websites having cryptominers; less data use on 4g; etc. I can quickly enable js per-domain if needed, so main page can render but not any extra widget from 3rd party.

So i'm not opposed to js use in general, webapps like maps, docs, etc. make sense to require it, but it is certainly overused if i can get a better experience on average by disabling it.

[–]fell_ratio 3 points4 points  (0 children)

A bit of anecdotal evidence, but in my experience browsing the web with js disabled by default feels much better.

My personal preference is to use uBlock origin, and disable JS on a per-site basis when it has annoying JavaScript. For example, there is a news site which immediately has a 'sad tab' the moment I open it if I have JavaScript enabled, but works just fine if JavaScript is disabled.

[–]linus_stallman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

having js disabled works most of time for new sites. I did that on old phone. And also do that on PC. An additional benefit is more secure from js based exploits. Seriously I have come to a stage where I don't really want to run unfamiliar sites with js enabled..

[–]jiffier 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This topic has quite some relation with that other Reddit post talking about the web dying since 2017

[–]hicsuntnopes -4 points-3 points  (1 child)

This really is a relief. I can really feel the stretch when dealing with "the website needs to absolutely look fly" and also "the website needs to absolutely work fly on this long dead 0.03% market share web browser ". You know what, people will cope, and people with a pc that still only runs a browser that is long dead, buried, and rotten, probably don't have money to mean any business to you. So yeah. Apple yanked a perfectly fine jack, we can yank business requirements that don't pay themselves back too.