> Thanks for the feedback, Paul... > > Ok... so let's say I build server- and client-side validation > for forms. > > What about the front-end niceties, say, for example, a > calendar of events that has a link that when clicked causes a > panel of details to slide into view on the page. I guess to > compensate for lack of JS, I'd have to create a link to a > details page or something. > > For every JS function, a non-JS backup function to compensate?
Well, I guess you could say that yes. At the end of the day there are so many factors that you need to consider it's scary. For instance here is a list of "top of my head" things I think about when building a site or function... 1. If you are interested in SEO, how well will the AJAX site rank seeing as most spiders don't do Javascript/Flash or any other embedded/scripted technology for that matter. 2. If a person with disabilities accesses the site, how will they cope? 3. If a hacker attacks the site, how will the site cope? 4. What if someone uses a user agent I'm not familiar with? Will the site (for the most part) still work? 5. Will the JS make the experience better or worse for the user? What would they expect to see here? There are way more things than that but it's a good place to start when you are building your sites. For us, we use JS extensively in the backend CMS system, we couldn't do without it and insist upon it but on the front end where the majority of the sites visitors are going to be, we use a minimal amount of site-enhancing JS rather than function-critical JS. As a rule of thumb here, unless it's in the management end of things, if there isn't a fallback to a common denominator then the function/feature isn't complete. Don't think of the the process as developing two or more versions of a site, think of it as developing a complete solution that should work anywhere. I know it sounds like a *lot* of work but once you get into the flow of things it isn't that bad. It's more of a change of mindset than anything else. Paul ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| ColdFusion MX7 by Adobe® Dyncamically transform webcontent into Adobe PDF with new ColdFusion MX7. Free Trial. http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion?sdid=RVJV Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:275556 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4
