To NOSCRIPT or not to NOSCRIPT that is the question

[mryang]

Hi,

I have quite a few javascripts on my pages including menus and cart functions.... Dreamweaver gives me a warning ---FAILED--- Missing NOSCRIPT: There is no NOSCRIPT following the script.

I know why a noscript should be there, however if I put in a noscript for my navigation menu it will be a real mass of code.... so do I need to do it or ignore it or is there another solution.

[speed]

My take on this is that if the JavaScript is there to enhance the site and the site is still functional with JavaScript off then don't worry about adding what would be empty noscript tags as they do nothing.

However if the site is not usable without the JavaScript then the noscript tags must be present with alternative HTML in them.

Depending on your JavaScript you may be able to reduce the number of noscript tags by putting all your JavaScript together in one block.

[carbonize]

Yes what Speed said. On the odd occasion I add Javascript to my site or scripts I always make sure that the functionality it offers still works if they have Javascript disabled. I have seen sites that use a Javascript menu but if you have JS turned off they have no navigation for you. Or if you want a laugh visit the Notepad++ site and turn javascript off. Talk about ugly.

[mryang]

I have my main menu system as javascript and no noscript so you are correct, without it I have no navigation!

In the process now of constructing the noscripts.

However - if I add in the noscripts does this then affect the keyword density of my pages or does google or other search engines ignore the links included inside the noscript tags? Just thinking as I don't want to add shed loads of links to each page and dilute my content.

[speed]

Google etc should read the contents of the noscript block so yes they will follow those links.

If you don't want bots to follow links the add a meta robots directive or you've always got the nofollow tag.

At the end of the day you are doing this for your visitors, which incidentally is what Google tell you to do, so I wouldn't worry about bots, visitors come first.

[mryang]

What percentage of browsers / internet users will not have scripts already accepted and running or what percentage will get nasty browser messages?? Is it really that many to worry about?

[speed]

No idea to be honest.

I work on the principle that they could be sick of popup windows etc and running noscript in Firefox, if the site degrades and works that's all that matters rather than alienate a potential source of income because I demand they use a technology they have no wish to.

For me it's about giving the user choice.

The other point is bots need to travel the site therefore non-scripted navigation is good for them.

[Dubbya]

I've not worried about the noscript code for years, especially considering that any of the most common browsers support javascript.

If it's an integral and necessary part of the site, leave it and let the user sort it out. They'll probably be an Ubergeek who's disabled javascript for some silly reason anyway and already have their own "workaround" by the time they hit your site.

If it's an accessibility issue, that's a horse of a different colour. If you're finding that your users are using screen reading browsers, you might want to tweak your code and/or content so they can access and navigate the site.

.02

[Webnauts]

Side Note: Google understands <noscript>.