Is JavaScript Necessary?

Thanks to the popularization of unobtrusive javascript, progressive enhancement and graceful degradation as web development best practices, there is often the possibility that one can operate a web application with JavaScript entirely disabled. This is definitely a win as far as creating a connector is concerned: fewer files to load, fewer HTTP connections, less processing, etc.

When first evaluating a web site you plan to build a connector for, try operating it without JavaScript. It’s important to check this early on: pages can offer quite different markup for their non-JavaScript versions and this will change the approach you take to developing the connector and the paths to the various elements within the site.

Rather than going back and forth to your browser preferences you can toggle JavaScript off and on by using the convenient green button with .js on it at the bottom right corner of any Firefox instance running the Builder. Upon determining where in the process to disable scripting, Set preference steps can be inserted to that effect.