[kwlug-disc] DuckDuckGo.com -- an alternate search engine

[Khalid Baheyeldin]

On Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 12:32 PM, Ralph Janke <txwikinger at ubuntu.com> wrote:

> I am not sure what the resistance against javascript in general is.
>

   - It can slow down things significantly, because code is being executed
   browser side. Some code parses the entire DOM of the HTML document and do
   things with it. Some code polls remote servers constantly for information,
   ...etc.
   - It can be a vector for security attacks (Cross Site Scripting).
   - It can be a hindrance to accessibility.
   - It can be an obstacle to content getting properly indexed in search
   engines.

It is bad design to make it mandatory. Optimal case is to make it enhance
the user experience (AJAX for lookups, type in a few letters and a list
comes down and you can pick, ...etc.), but also make it degrade gracefully.
By this, I mean that you get a site that is still usable, but perhaps not as
convenient as the javascript version.

Google's Gmail for example has an HTML version. Yahoo's Mail claims that you
can use Classic without Javascript, but you still have to enable Javascript.
Bad design.


> javascript allows to let certain parts of the code being executed in the
> client instead of the server. This allows a smoother user experience (i.e.
> not every user interaction requires a new page being rendered). Do you need
> this for every application - no. However, it can increase the usability, to
> allow i.e. auto-completion of your input.


Agreed.

The issue is to make such features mandatory, and not degrade gracefully.

>
>
>
> On 07/26/2010 11:38 PM, Chris Frey wrote:
>
>> On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 10:06:39PM -0400, Khalid Baheyeldin wrote:
>>
>>
>>> http://duckduckgo.com/
>>>
>>>
>> I tried searching using the front page... and was dismayed to find that
>> it requires Javascript.
>>
>> A search engine should never require Javascript.  It's not that hard a
>> job.
>>
>> - Chris
>>
>>
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-- 
Khalid M. Baheyeldin
2bits.com, Inc.
http://2bits.com
Drupal optimization, development, customization and consulting.
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. --  Edsger W.Dijkstra
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. --   Leonardo da Vinci
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