Yes, I agree Javascript is at times a necessary evil. My current strategy is to rely on it as little as possible and only in situations where is does not form a structural part of the app. If someone is using a browser without Javascript support or with it turned off I need to have the app still usable.
I guess that just means I am using it for bells and whistles. A date picker for example is OK but only if the plain text input is still on the page and does not depend on the script to work. You of course have to have good validity checking in the backend whether there is script or not. To give you some background, my aversion to using Javascript comes from having been forced to work on an app recently which totally depends upon Javascript for pretty much everything that is done. Every single link and form was being handled by generated scripts in each page. The resulting pages were twice the size of straight HTML, almost unreadable and if you were not using the right browser and version chances are the whole thing fell down around you. Nasty! A good example of what not to do for my way of thinking. Having had this general dislike of Javascript for a good number of years however I would like to say that the sophistication of an HTML only front-end can be pretty damn good. I have some lovely hierarchical trees (expand and contract branches etc), calendar representations etc that are completely server based with zero script on the client. It takes a bit of imagination but you can have a damn nice UI without a lot of JS. <flame-retardant> I'll hold off looking for a new career path just yet. </flame-retardant> Regards Marty -----Original Message----- From: Adam Hardy [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, 8 June 2005 2:59 AM To: Struts Users Mailing List Subject: Re: Date UI On 07/06/05 12:55 Larry Meadors wrote: >>I am generally allergic to Javascript which I guess limits what can be done >>with fancy pop-up pickers. Am open to suggestions should there be a nice >>robust script out there I guess. > > > <flame-retardant> > Get over it. Like it or not, JavaScript is here to stay. Anyone who > looks at any modern framework (including Struts, JSF, and .net) and > says "Ew, JavaScript..." should consider a new career path. Sorry, but > it is just a fact of life, get used to it. > </flame-retardant> Yes sure but just make sure you don't make javascript mandatory for the user - because surfers will always use browsers (e.g. PDA, linux console) that don't do javascript. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
