The Underscore Archives

>From: "Iwein Dekoninck" <iwein at 3sixty.co.uk>
>
>My attitude is that some people do not have javascript, and I need to
>cater for them.
<snip />

My thoughts exactly. Invariably there are some situations which will warrant 
disableing of javascript, be it using a screen reader or company policy, and 
therefore standard functionality should work regardless. The "progressive 
enhancement" srtategy, mentioned by Tim Beadle, covers this completely. It 
all falls under the subject of "Accessibility" (sorry for stating the 
obvious) and, as such, a site that does not fully offer this functionality 
is simply inaccessible to a subset of potential users.

The application described in the article can easily be implemented using 
both javascript and the usual anchor link to a re-styled page. Javascript 
can simply disable the normal functionality of the link and perform some 
fancy DOM scripting/style changes to achieve the same effect without hitting 
the server. Thus all potential users get basic functionality and the server 
load is reduced.

On first impressions I thought this to be one of the weaker ALA articles, a 
re-hashing of an old technique that helped fill an issue. After some 
consideration, I now believe it has more to do with getting developers to 
think how they can enhance user experience with javascript and DOM 
manipulation. Replacing the functionality of the "File->Print Preview" menu 
selection obviously isn't a neccessity but its a good exaple of what can be 
achieved.


My 2c :)...cheers,

James

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