Some (and not all are alchemy wizards) are claiming that users break the internet by disabling JavaScript.
What is JavaScript? It is one of the three (technical) pillars of websites. The other two are HTML and CSS.
All have a different function:
- HTML = content
- CSS = style
- JavaScript = functionality
The content consists of all the text and images (and officially video and sound), the things you want on informational webpages. Style adds colours, margin, font-sizes and things like that, it makes the content more readable. JavaScript adds functionality and interactivity to webpages. Or can turn websites from informational documents into applications.
So how can users break the internet?
Of course they can’t.
Users can disable images, so browsers don’t download them. Don’ t forget to re-enable them before starting shouting on Twitter…
Users can disable CSS or override CSS which is nice for colour-blind or other visually impaired people.
JavaScript is needed for applications, like like games, navigation or photo-editing, and it can make informational documents more dynamic. On informational websites JavaScript is not viable, but needed to serve advertisements.
Users can disable CSS and JavaScript historically. At first because it was new and not widely supported, later because you don’t always need it. All three types, HTML, CSS and JavaScript are served in different resources/files. That means webpages will load faster with just HTML, instead of HTML, CSS and Javascript, because less resources have to be downloaded, and HTTP-requests are quite expensive.
CSS is nice too, but JavaScript can be an annoyance. It is a script language that executes by forehand unknown scripts (from probably different sources) on a user computer.
JavaScript impacts severely:
- speed
- security
- privacy
- costs (on paid/metered connections)
- battery usage on mobile devices
- memory usage, especially on devices with less memory
If you have been infected by a virus, it must have been while visiting websites with JavaScript enabled.
So there are very good reasons to disable JavaScript for users on at least a lot of unknown websites. You can always reload/refresh with JavaScript enabled, if you need it.
Cooking meth(ods) in business cuisines
Internet-companies read a different story: JavaScript is the fuel for their money machine. Tracking users and serving advertisements is an indispensable part of their business model, with JavaScript they can collect major users statistics. They can follow users over the internet, measure where you hover with you mouse, how long you read, how much you scroll, see what’s in your clipboard, operate your microphone or webcam, where you are, what your friends read, collect images, tracking what and how fast you type. Yes, every script has access to that.
So companies need JavaScript much more then users. A little lie that `users are breaking the internet by disabling JavaScript` can help their business enormously, especially if you design a few sites that actually break the internet, because the sites do not work without JavaScript. Or they mix-up style with functionality. Push JavaScript and make users hooked to JavaScript. Especially target the mobile platform, because phones are a more valuable source for private information than desktops.
And if a users wants some privacy, blame the user! To disable JavaScript is a crime. You break the internet! What fear can do for you.
Smart-phones are stupid-phones and worse
A phone isn’t something you control, a smart-phone is controlled by major multinationals that run programs on your phone and collect information 24 hours a day and that info is continuously send to the cloud owned by the multinationals.
How much does a smart-phone phone home compared to real user initiated telephone calls. I would say a 100 times. Disconnect your phone from the internet, it can’t do anything any more. Stupid isn’t it? Smart means in control of some major company.
A smart-phone is a kind of ankle monitor. The new Android wear will undoubtedly have an indestructible variant for individuals under house arrest or parole.
Only the first take is free
Informational webpages that show no content without JavaScript is like delivering a newspaper without ink, well there is an accompanied stickersheet, just put the stickers on the right place. That sounds silly, and it is silly. The only way companies design such pages is that they force the users to enable JavaScript so they can collect and track and serve advertisements in return. Yes, the first browser Google designed had no possibility of turning JavaScript off. Google still blocks all extensions that users can install to block unwanted JavaScripts running on their device. Companies push apps on phones instead of letting users use webpages, because with apps they have better control and get more and easier access to detailed user-profiles.
Yes, it’s all about money. And real money isn’t made with cooking simple food like chicken nuggets or serving simple content. You need something sneaky and hidden, you need something in return.
You can be sure about one thing: bringing internet to the poor for free means multinationals want to run programs on the poor guys phones, watches and glasses too. It’s business, not charity out there.
