Statistics for Javascript Disabled Browsers

Does anyone know what the statistics are for browsers with javascript disabled. I notice this forum did not previously fail graciously if javascript was disabled although it does now fall back on to non javascript style.

I thought most people would have it enabled by default and very few would know what or why to disable it and those that did know what it meant would not disable it due to the reduced functionality on a lot of sites.

I am asking this as the new Xippets site is using jQuery for some of its functionality. I have not implemented no script fallback and wonder if i’m making a mistake. My lazy side is saying, 99% of people visiting the site are developers and would (i think) relish the use and rich content offered by JS so why would they disable it.

Any thoughts?

You can always put an HTML noscript tag on your index page telling users they need to have JavaScript enabled, and instructing them how to do so.

There are quite a few more or less formal statistics around : https://duckduckgo.com/?q=percentage+of+browsers+with+javascript+disabled

Seems people who disable are a minority.

I’ve never seen such statistics, and quite frankly, most of the statistic gathering engines require JavaScript to run, so the stats may not exist at all. That said, people who have JavaScript turned off probably don’t get much from the Internet these days. Most sites have a JavaScript requirement of one kind or another except maybe the search engines and Wikipedia.

I don’t believe anyone uses web without javascript except maybe the bots.

There not seem to be large scale statistics, but on my site AwStats based on the logs reports the number of visitors with JavaScript disabled.

i dont. I turn it on on only certain sites and the JS cant be coming from other sites. I dont like cross site scripting as I have been hacked due to it.

Scott, how do you know when you need it? I know stack overflow flag it up at the top of the window if you have JS off or do you just look for failing components on the page?

So do you take an educated guess as to whether or not you trust a site?

For the record I am using as little as possible 3rd party scripts. I am hosting as much of the js as possible, all apart from content from addthis.com as I am using their sharing widget.

when the page breaks and doesnt work.

that is one of the items I look for.

if I trust the site I will turn it on. But if I am not sure if I trust the site or not, then I wont turn it on. I am “gun shy” at turning it on.

Thanks folks. I think for now I will leave it as JS required, if required I will think about fallback options later.