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On my website: Should I trade off accessibility?

demo 23 Dec 2008 05:03am
Hi,

I'm at a difficult juncture. Basically, all the planning for my new site is done, and the session management is going okay, and I'm ready to start building it.

I have a really cool idea in mind for the site - essentially, it's an AJAX navigation system. As in, the header and sidebar stay the same, but the content will change smoothly. This gives a really nice feel while browsing the site, and looks cool. You can see what I mean here: (The first draft of it, and the actual manifestation, respectively. It's actually fairly similar to gmail.)
http://www.mel.ericvernon.com
http://www.dev.rpgfish.com

The issue here is that there are many things which could go wrong. The cons I see are:
-If JavaScript is turned off, it won't function
-SSL is going to either be impossible or simply out of the question, or I'd have to break the nav system for a page load or two
-Not all browsers support AJAX
-It's turning out to be really hard to code, especially forms (but still doable = D )

What's your opinion on this? Is it worth the trade-off?

Answers

demo 23 Dec 2008 05:51am
- If JavaScript is turned off, it won't function
Too bad. :) Blunt but true. If users want modern web sophistication, they need JavaScript, period.

- SSL is going to either be impossible or simply out of the question, or I'd have to break the nav system for a page load or two.
Shouldn't have to. Why exactly would that be needed?

- Not all browsers support AJAX
I would venture a guess that 90%+ of browsers in use today DO support AJAX. The people using the remaining 10%? My advice is "get a REAL browser." What's the point of having web technologies out there if you can't use 'em?

- It's turning out to be really hard to code, especially forms (but still doable =D)
As long as it's doable, keep going.


Here's my thoughts, since you asked :)
demo 23 Dec 2008 05:59am
What I'm doing on my side is detect on the opening page if Javascript is enabled; if yes, my site supports it. If no, then I offer a stripped site, with neither bells nor whistles.

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