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0 pointsreid15y ago0 comments

My point was that Google solves this problem the wrong way.

Instead of making two interfaces, they should make one interface. If JavaScript hasn't loaded yet (or if it's disabled), the majority of the interface can still be available immediately.

JavaScript should always add to the experience. It doesn't make sense to show GMail's Chat widget until JS is loaded-- but it really doesn't make sense to show nothing at all until the Chat JS downloads and runs!

You should be able to show the message list right away. You can start scanning your messages immediately. You can click normal links and submit forms.

Bonus for JS enabled users: a few seconds later the links, buttons, etc. all get hooked up to JavaScript. The Chat widget appears. By the time you click, things may even happen all AJAXy-- and it appeared to load instantly by loading JS in the background.

Now that's awesome.

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steveklabnik15y ago

But what about features that _need_ JS to work? Should they be in the interface until the JS loads and they work? Then when I try to use them in the first few seconds, they're broken. If they're added afterwards, they just pop into existence...

I don't mind waiting the second or two.

reidOP15y ago

No. Those features should not be in the HTML markup if they are bonuses that require JavaScript. At least, they must be hidden until its script loads. But you shouldn't have to hide everything.

I'm pretty happy browsers don't show a big "Loading..." message until everything is loaded instead of painting the page as soon as possible. Shouldn't we be avoiding that too?

The bulk of that interface can be progressively enhanced.

For example, the message list and side navigation can be normal links. When JS comes along, they get actions (show this view, show this message) that override the default actions of those links (navigate to the page /message_view?id=foo).

If you try to use them in those first few seconds, they act as normal links-- they aren't broken, they just weren't enhanced yet. You can start using the page faster.

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