[thelist] Why not drop-down javascript navigation?

[Shawn K. Quinn]

On Tuesday July 1 2003 04:31, george donnelly wrote:
> hi all
>
> I have a not-tech-savvy client who wants some javascript drop-down
> menus like what you see on janes.com. I am recommending against it
> because well its javascript and it will most likely add weight to the
> page, which we cannot really sustain due to the low bandwidth net
> connection of the server, and it probably won't work well across all
> browsers as well as that it hides navigation from users and key words
> from serach engines and last but not least that it is too much
> information.
>
> Can anyone suggest any articles or research I can use to back up this
> point of view? thanks

Take a look at <URL:http://www.thecounter.com/stats/2003/May/javas.php> 
which lists 13% of hits to users without Javascript available. I would 
not place complete trust in it but if anything I believe it to be 
skewed low (as in more than 13% of hits).

There is also, of course, 
<URL:http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20001112.html>.

You can also mention a standard HTML link will work 100% of the time and 
even when these form-based navigation boxes are done "right" by falling 
back to a CGI script, they are still an impediment and not as easy to 
use as standard HTML links and might well confuse new WWW users.

-- 
Shawn K. Quinn