Web Development: Do we still need to support non-javascript users?

Question

Background: I'm working on an e-commerce website. It was my original intention to add JavaScript on top of regular html pages, so that users with JS support got the added benefits, but users without it could still use the basic html forms to add things to their cart, to search, etc.

I've run into a few situations though, where there simply isn't a sane way to implement certain functionality in a non JavaScript way.

One example is chained attribute selects on product pages (where the color choices change based on the size chosen, because not all sizes come in every color). Even if I didn't use AJAX, it would still require JavaScript to dynamically change the options.

The only alternatives to JavaScript that I can think of would be:

A. Have an add to cart "wizard" where you have to step through each attribute choice on a separate page (yuck!)

B. Put each size/color variation out as a separate product (and force the customer to wade through the category page to find the color size combo that they want)

...And while both of the above would work regardless of whether the user has JavaScript on or not, they both punish the JavaScript users by restructuring the page and forcing them to use an interface designed for the lowest common denominator.

So the question is, since JavaScript has taken a much larger role in web development than it did a few years back, and the design pattern for an AJAX/JS application/site is so much different now than a 'classic' web design pattern, do we still go out of our way to support non JS users? Or do we say, "To hell with you! Update your browser, turn on JavaScript or go shop elsewhere"?

I'd be interested to see other developer's take on this.

Answer 1

I think it really depends on your target audience. I work for a company that has several types of websites, some are focused on your avg guy or gal who's into gaming. And our stats show us that the vast majority of these people have javascript enabled.

We also have a site that's focused at developers, and many of these developers won't allow javascript to run on a site unless they trust it. I've seen as many as 20-30% of the browsers on that site don't run javascript.

So it's very subjective.

IMHO, it's very reasonable to use vast amounts of tasteful javascript to enhance an otherwise mundane experience. However, I also think that when possible it should gracefully degrade. This form of degradation isn't too hard to achieve (in most cases) as long as you consider it when you're designing things.