Web<i>site</i>s don&#x27;t need javascript in general[1], web<i>app</i>s often need javascript.<p>[1] For example HN, doesn&#x27;t <i>need</i> javascript, but for the vote-buttons, js is nice. With a pure html-page, the difference between a get with a vote-parameter and an ajax request shouldn&#x27;t be terrible, with gzip compression etc. Maybe it&#x27;s even possible to abuse something like status 304 to avoid a reload for a &quot;&#x2F;thisPage?upvote=someid&quot; from &quot;&#x2F;thisPage&quot; (with CSRF delegated to a document cookie?).<p>Granted HN might not be the pinnacle of graphic design, or UI -- but there&#x27;s lots of room for improvement that doesn&#x27;t have to involve js.