Javascript Ajax Graceful-degradation, with Different Pages?

Question

I'm starting to give a little more attention to making my javascript and ajax degrade gracefully. Which is more recommended:

• working on incorporating the graceful degradation into your existing code (can be tricky) or
• developing a different sets of pages for the non-js users.

I'm leaning towards the different sets of pages, because I feel it's easier and I get to deliver the best possible results for each user type (js-enabled or js-disabled). Do you agree with me, and if not, why do you disagree?

I'm also worrying about hacking attempts. For example hacker gets to the js-enabled version, then disables his js. Any thoughts on this point? I don't know much about hacking, but can this be a security concern if I go with the separate versions?

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Though it doesn't work well for existing sites, often it's more useful to use the Progressive Enhancement paradigm: build the site so it works with no special add-ons, then start layering your awesomeness on top of that.

This way you can be sure it works from the ground up and everyone (including those who use screen readers, those who turn off images or stylesheets, and those who don't use javascript) can all access your site.

For an existing site, however, it will depend on what functionality the ajax is delivering. In general you should strive to mirror all the ajax functionality with js disabled. If you have security holes in your js version, than you probably will in your non-js version too. AJAX can't get to anything that can't be accessed via ordinary URL.