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Comment by mnw21cam | Hacker News Reader

"To use the Mastodon web application, please enable JavaScript."

I don't want to "use the Mastodon web application", whatever that means. I just want to read a web page like a normal person.

Sigh Does anyone have the article text handy?

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Don't know why your comment is grey. Forced Javascript is a blight on the internet.

https://archive.is/fxqui

>Please don't complain about tangential annoyances—e.g. article or website formats, name collisions, or back-button breakage. They're too common to be interesting.

From https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Nah. Its accessibility at this point and its time we start talking about it, yes, even here. The internet is being ruined by js and screenshotted or otherwise uncopyable, inaccessible text.

Not necessarily. Without JS some sites would be horrible to use. I don't even know if it is possible to submit a form without reloading the page. It probably is by now but a lot of basic functionality either needs JS, very complex server-side rendering or url resource structure.

And server side rendering can be as ugly, it is just less visible. We can be really lucky that there is a universal language on the client side for web browsers. Even if it is often abused, it is very much worth it.

Maybe not the most elegant language, but probably one of the fasted to develop with.

What about things like games in the browser? A few of those are part of my daily ritual.

I actually upvoted the comment because it's true (and it's positive now anyway), but it was probably negative because people complaining about the platform on which a given link is posted is pretty boring, and happens pretty regularly. Surprisingly regularly especially when you consider that approximately 0% of regular web users have JS disabled so there's not exactly a strong incentive to build for that crowd.

> Forced Javascript is a blight on the internet

Do you genuinely believe this is still an open question?

I won't dispute the argument that maybe it was a mistake, but to me it seems indisputable the ship has sailed.

I might buy the argument that any "mandatory" websites - government, library, academic - should be operational without Javascript.

But in the casual or entertainment domain, noone is obligated to provide their users an operational Javascript-free website. If you can't read something without Javascript, that's a you problem.

Most websites are far better with JS disabled. They're responsive, they have fewer ads, they don't assault me with autoplaying video/audio, they don't track me (as much), they don't make my laptop fan spin up and waste my battery. Just absolutely better in every way.

Some websites don't function without JS. I either enable it on a case-by-case basis, or avoid those websites.

That seems like a more modern internet problem solved better by Ublock Origin than blocking all of Javascript.

the 2000s and early 2010s era internet ("Web 2.0") was richer with Javascript WITHOUT all the gargantuan trackers and auto-playing videos.

JavaScript is fine. It's just a tool. Like a hammer.

A hammer can be an important part of building breathtaking architecture. It can also be used to gouge somebody's eyes out.

Just like JavaScript.

EDIT: That "web app" was very nice to use.

Because it's ok you guys are babies but it's not ok to tell us everytime you go potty.

It's banned in the rules on the site. No-one wants to hear about your off topic journey of self discovery. Maybe Reddit does?

Blight on the web, you mean. The internet is what you pass packets over. The web is what you pass memes over.

The Internet is a thing is used to pass HTTPS which we then tunnel all new protocols over.

I'm sure there must be an IP-Over-Meme implementation somewhere.

There is at least one open issue on the Mastodon github project requesting basic functionality without requiring Javascript. Which notes that this is clearly already possible:

"Show post content at standard post URLs when JS is disabled instead of just 'enable JavaScript' message, since this is already done for /embed URLs #23153"

<https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/issues/23153>

Yes, unfortunately Mastodon 4.0's public web interface now uses JS to render threads. Lots of people are mad about it.

It's rumoured someone could patch it and run their own. Haven't tried for myself. Seems like a lot of work and JavaScript is pretty convenient as compared to full page reloads or frames.

Lmao, the never amount of times a page felt faster or more responsive than a page refresh. Oh joy, i clicked and nothing is happening and i get no progress notification. Really great.

The entire premise is absurd. What application spends more time on SSR than data fetch, or other? Exactly freaking zero that ive ever operated.

Try https://dro.pm and tell me if I should make every click a full page reload. That bigcorps fuck it up doesn't mean it's the method itself that's harmful

Fwiw, I'd like this site to have fallbacks for non-JS users, but it's a heck of a lot of work to make everything twice and nobody asked yet or contributed a patch for even basic functionality

If you turn JavaScript on it makes voting on HN much faster.

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