Noscript and Progressive Enhancement

Difficulty: Advanced

Category:

• Presentation

The noscript element provides a fall-back for when JavaScipt is not enabled or supported. Because most screen readers and other assistive technologies support JavaScript, and because users of these technologies are generally no more likely to have JavaScript disabled, the use of noscript is not really an accessibility concern. Developers must simply consider that if they require JavaScript, that some users may not get that content or functionality. It is important, however, that the functionality fail gracefully (e.g., it is clear or the user is alerted that a web application will not work without JavaScript).

Progressive enhancement is a better approach than noscript. Noscript provides a fall-back for when JavaScript is disabled, whereas progressive enhancement is an approach where the web page is built to be fully functional without JavaScript, and is then enhanced with JavaScript. Using progressive enhancement ensures that the page works regardless of whether JavaScript is enabled.