Famous websites with JavaScript disabled
Tags: research, css, webdesign, javascript
Published: 2020-05-27 08:17:58

---
title: Famous websites with JavaScript disabled
published: true
description: A selection of top websites with JavaScript disabled
tags: research, css, webdesign, javascript
//canonical_url: https://ziizium.github.io/famous-websites-with-javascript-disabled/
---
##__Introduction__

The three _musketeers_ of Web development are indeed HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The way you combine these three _amigos_ can have a significant effect on your web page layout.

Not just the way you combine them, but also the way you actually write them. This means if you are using a _feature_ in CSS or HTML that's not supported in all browsers; What will happen to users that use a browser that does not support the feature you've implemented?

Another scenario is when JavaScript is a _core_ part of your application and you change or modify some page elements with it; What will happen to users who have JavaScript turned off in their browser? Or browse the Web with JavaScript turned off using a browser extension like [NoScript](https://noscript.net)?

I decided to find out. Rather than choosing some random sites to test, I _handpicked_ some top websites on the Web today and opened their Home page with JavaScript turned off in my browser using the [NoScript](https://noscript.net) browser extension.

Based on the result, I categorize them into three categories namely; The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Let's begin with _the good_.

<hr>

###__The Good__

In my research, for a website to be categorized as good that means the home page or at least the website is still usable with JavaScript disabled.

####__[Google](https://google.com)__

I am pretty sure you are not surprised with this selection. When you have JavaScript turned off in your browser Google redirects you to a _mobile_ version of the page optimized for browsers with no capability to render JavaScript. You will also get the same view when you visit Google's homepage with Opera Mini.

![Google.com homepage with JavaScript disabled](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/vz456i04ar6am01h4ct8.png)<figcaption>Google's home page with JavaScript disabled</figcaption>

####__[Wikepedia](https://wikipedia.org)__

The online _encyclopedia_, seriously I was not expecting it to fail and it did not disappoint me. The home page is identical with or without JavaScript enabled in the users' browser.

 ![Wikipedia's home page with JavaScript disabled](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/doo09kyj6imganjt2gzf.png)

####__[Netlify](https://netlify.com)__

Have you ever heard of that name _Netlify_? Something tells me you have. There is only one significant difference in their homepage when JavaScript is disabled in the user's browser. Compare the images below and see if you can spot the difference.

![Netlify homepage with JavaScript enabled](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/xb0vezagq3ziv9o1xerx.png)<figcaption>Netlify's homepage with JavaScript enabled</figcaption>

![Netlify homepage with JavaScript disabled](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/f8ney1tci79h3wxocqho.png)<figcaption>Netlify's homepage with JavaScript disabled</figcaption>

####__[Facebook](https://facebook.com)__

The homepage looks solid with JavaScript disabled and almost no noticeable changes compared to when JavaScript is enabled.

![Facebook homepage with JavaScript disabled](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/vpo18rzzrc7b60i72sbp.png)<figcaption>Facebook home page with JavaScript disabled</figcaption>

####__[Bing](https://bing.com)__

Microsoft search engine is _quite awesome_ with JavaScript disabled. Compared to Google it does not redirect to a _no JavaScript_ version of the site. The least I can say about this is: _resilient_.

![Bing home page with JavaScript disabled](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/zvcvoudfkplsgtga0fg1.jpg)<figcaption>Bing Home page with JavaScript disabled</figcaption>

![Bing search result with JavaScript disabled ](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/1omyg33g0vzsapegkxyh.png)<figcaption>Bing search result with JavaScript disabled</figcaption>

####__[Smashing Magazine](https://smashingmagazine.com/)__
In all reality I did not expect their site to fail without JavaScript and it did not.

![Smashing Magazine homepage without JavaScript](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/s9uieu0yrcqzanwnrk73.png)<figcaption>Smashing magazine without JavaScript</figcaption>

![Smashing Magazine with JavaScript enabled](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/pgn721efd3hegr5ee2qx.png)<figcaption>Smashing magazine with JavaScript</figcaption>

Can you spot the difference? Don't worry it's quite minimal.

###__The Bad__

For this page if any part of the web page fails to load it's considered bad.

####__[Yahoo!](https://yahoo.com)__

When you land on Yahoo!'s homepage with JavaScript disabled, you can only use part of the page, the rest of the page is the skeleton of what's supposed to load but it did not due to unavailability of JavaScript.

![Part of Yahoo!'s homepage with JavaScript disabled](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/0tap6bl7ilwy3ja15gf2.png)<figcaption>Yahoo! Homepage</figcaption>

![Part of Yahoo!'s homepage with JavaScript disabled showing skeleton structure of some page elements](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/3lq1rem6hgw7iffz84od.png)<figcaption>Yahoo! Homepage with skeleton</figcaption>

####__[Twitter](https://twitter.com)__

Say what? No am not kidding you. Twitter stops in your track if you have a browser with JavaScript disabled. They give you just an option to _redirect_ to their _legacy website_ which is _mobile_ twitter on a desktop.

 ![Twitter's Homepage with JavaScript disabled](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/p9yfsccak8megpke4aou.png)

####__[BBC](https://bbc.co.uk)__

One of the most popular news website seemingly fails to load some images on the homepage if the user has JavaScript disabled in their browser.

![BBC Homepage with JavaScript disabled](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/kt9g9j5lk7ih03hbexrf.png)<figcaption>BBC's Homepage with JavaScript disabled</figcaption>

#####__[Reddit](https://reddit.com)__

Reddit's behavior when JavaScript is disabled is similar to Yahoo! Some page content load, other don't.

![Reddit's Homepage with JavaScript disabled](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/1cj3i9xuqr4jzc16drlr.png)

_If you want to access Reddit with JavaScript disabled you can use [https://old.reddit.com](https://old.reddit.com)_

###__The Ugly__

For this research, if it's ugly that means most of the homepage content is __unusable__ or __totally unavailable without JavaScript__.

####__[YouTube](https://youtube.com)__

No JavaScript in your browser No videos for you on the desktop version of YouTube. You only get _skeleton_ of page content that failed to load.

![Youtube's Homepage with JavaScript disabled](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/mah00h2xarv75nh47fe3.png)<figcaption>YouTube Homepage</figcaption>

####__[ThePracticalDEV](https://dev.to)__

If JavaScript is disabled on DEV, you lose access to the most important information on the page i.e. the _blog post_.

![ThePracticalDEV Homepage with JavaScript disabled](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/5j1c2qisf1bwde1w8yzw.png)<ficaption></figcaption>

<hr>

The purpose of this research is to show that [Resilient Web Design](https://resilientwebdesign.com/) wins as shown by [Google](https://google.com), [Bing](https://bing), [Netlify](https://netlify.com), and [Wikipedia](https://wikipedia.org).

_Edited October 9, 2020: Grammar fix and deletion of obsolete canonical URL._