[thelist] Theory Question: Client Side or Server Side

Tom Dell'Aringa pixelmech at yahoo.com
Sat Apr 10 10:11:48 CDT 2004


--- Jonathan <j at firebright.com> wrote:
> I couldn't agree more with Shawn.  It's a rule for development in
> our shop that Javascript is never used for core functionality, as 
> all web applications should fail gracefully.  

I'd say that's probably a good idea, but not always feasable. We have
applications at my company that require JS, and if you don't have it
on you can't use them. We don't have any problem with our users
requiring it.

> Besides, if someone went to all the trouble to fill out that
monster 
> of an order form, I think they'll wait 5-6
> seconds while it reloads if there are errors, and with server side
> scripting you could easily highlight the elements that fail 
> validation without having to resort to scripting tricks.

What if their browser times out? What if their connection dies? Then
you just screwed your user. What if they get frustrated with the
wait? People DO get frustrated with a wait of only 5 or 6 seconds.
They hit the submit button or cancel. I've seen it in action during
usability testing.

Why not give them instantaneous feedback? Sure, validate the data on
the server side too - I'm not arguing against that at all. But it
should be the backup, not the primary.

> It's one thing if you don't get confirmation on a delete -- that's
> your choice to disable it -- but it will still work.  It's quite 
> another when the site won't work, and you can't place an order, 
> because of a scripting error
> on your particular browser or because you surf with javascript off.

If you have a server side backup, you'll still be able to place the
order. And if you have scripting errors, your QA stinks. :)

Tom

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