I was asked recently on a livestream about people being against JavaScript on the web. I think it’s a hot take that… doesn’t actually exist. JavaScript is one of the building blocks of the web.
The metaphor I like to use is that web development is like serving a sentence. When you’re doing time, there’s structure, rules, and some elements that define your experience (and other things, sure, but let’s stick with this for now). In web development, HTML is the prison itself — the cold, hard walls. CSS is the decor — the motivational posters and the painted murals in the rec room. JavaScript? That’s the prison break.
You can have websites without JavaScript, of course. They’re static, locked down, unchanging. And that’s not a bad thing. It’s like this sentence:
“A quiet night in solitary confinement.”
It’s peaceful. Nothing’s really happening. And for some, that’s okay — even comforting in its simplicity.
But what happens when JavaScript comes into play?
“A quiet night in solitary erupted into chaos.”
Whoa. Chaos. Something happened. The alarms are blaring, and now the guards are scrambling. And it doesn’t stop there. You can keep piling on the action:
“A quiet night in solitary erupted into chaos as inmates scaled the walls, guards dropped their coffee, and helicopters circled overhead.”
Just like a prison sentence can get more dramatic, complicated, and frankly unhinged, so can websites. We could go deeper with this metaphor, like how adding too much can lead to total anarchy, or how poor planning in your escape route — I mean, website structure — can land you right back in trouble. But you get the idea.
Nobody wants to stay locked in solitary forever, and nobody actually wants you to get rid of JavaScript. Use it the right way, and your websites can be as wild, powerful, efficient, chaotic, or oddly serene as you want them to be. Just don’t forget to check for bugs — or the guards will.