The UK government are issuing guidelines for all government web sites which includes the requirement that there must be an alternative to javascript in web pages. So how does this affect asp.net? You could modify the controls you use to add <NOSCRIPT> elements to the output, but this would be quite a large task. A better approach would be to only use the server controls that do not need javascript for the postback.
At first I thought this would be a major headache, but it turns out that only the following standard controls use javascript (taken from http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/vbcon/html/vbconclientscriptinwebforms.asp):
- The LinkButton and HtmlButton server controls require script. (This is not true for the Button Web server control or the HtmlInputButton or HtmlInputImage controls.)
- By default, the Calendar control implements month navigation and day selection using LinkButton controls. If you set control properties to allow users to select a day, week, or month, or if you allow users to navigate to other months, then the Calendar control will generate client script. If you use the Calendar control simply to display a single month with no selection or navigation, the control does not require client script.
- Any Web server control whose AutoPostBack property is set to true; the client script is required so that the control will post the page.
- The Web validation controls, which require client script to support client-side validation. If the client does not support script, validation will run on the server only.
So in fact if you don't use these controls - and it is perfectly possible to live without them (though of course the user experience could suffer slightly) it's not a problem at all!
posted @ Monday, March 15, 2004 12:08 PM