[jsr-314-open] JavaScript disabled support [Was: Outcome of JSFDays discussions]

[Dan Allen]

Tremendous insight. Thanks for sharing.


> Now is progressive enhancement the right approach for every single
> application?  Not necessarily.  For many internal intranet applications,
> which I think right now are still the sweet spot for JSF, an approach that
> assumes more about the user's environment is perfectly acceptable.  But I
> for one am more interested in expanding the possibilities of JSF being used
> to create public facing applications that reach the widest possible audience
> of users.  To do that, IMHO, a functional HTML foundation should not be a
> fallback, but rather the default.


You are absolutely right that JSF needs to recognize that there are two very
distinct target environments on the web. What is good for one is not always
good for the other. As an application developer, it is really annoying to
have to consider whether such a fundamental part of the browser, JavaScript,
is even available. It's a lot more cost effective internally to just support
one browser (an open source one, of course). However, a public facing web
site designer lives and dies based on its ability to balance on such shaky
ground.

Maybe not for JSF 2.0, but eventually perhaps we should consider that we
really need two sets of renders in the standard component base one which
implements progressive enhancement, or even as Martin suggested, use CSS to
leverage native browser buttons to act like links. For now, though, I agree
that it can be handled at the implementation level. Thankfully, Spring Faces
offers a progressive enhancement renderer set for the community to trial
today.

That said, I still think that many application developers would find
beneficial a standardized (even if ever improving) way of determining
whether JavaScript is present.

-Dan

-- 
Dan Allen
Senior Software Engineer, Red Hat | Author of Seam in Action

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http://mojavelinux.com/seaminaction
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