Everyone Has JavaScript, Right?
These people march into every JavaScript discussion, carrying the same cross on their back since the first day Netscape supported AJAX. They lament what a travesty the internet has become thanks to this mongrel language which broke the purity of HTML.<p>What really gets me is this kind of Good Samaritan plea to developers to just “do the right thing” as if every line of JavaScript was paid in orphan tears and puppy blood.<p>It’s 2021 and at this point it really feels like they’re begging the question: “Sites that require JavaScript are not as good as sites that don’t because they can’t operate without JavaScript.” We already know that. It’s well understood what makes a site feel slow. Progressive enhancement is an ideal situation — it’s just not something that every organization prioritizes. And for some web apps, server side rendering adds significant overhead to problems like caching, authentication, and multi platform compatibility.<p>If you’re honestly invested in progressive enhancement, contribute to open source tools that make it easier to ship.