The Forgettable Mister Ruthsarian

Why JAVA(script) Reliance Is Still Bad

A follow-up to this entry from a while back.

The trend continues, folks. There's yet another vulerability for those using JAVA wholesale. The site linked to in the article also contains a JavaScript version of this that works on Gecko/Opera browsers.

And so we have one more reason to keep JAVA and JavaScript disabled by default.

This, in turns, gives us one more reason why we should be developing web pages in straight HTML that work in even the simplest (text-based) browsers.

As I see it, this trend is going to continue. People will slowly start to disable JavaScript and JAVA by default through plug-ins (initially) and eventually through built-in browser functionality. When this finally reaches mainstream all those websites out there that rely on JavaScript and JAVA will suddenly have a very big problem. Users will need to first trust a website before enabling these features. How can such trust be earned when the site isn't accessible to begin with due to this reliance on JavaScript and JAVA and even Flash.

Yes, Flash is not immune to this trend. Partly because it's a plug-in loaded into browsers the same way JAVA is and will likely be blocked by the same technology used to block JAVA and JavaScript. And there has been some development in the area of using Flash to accomplish similar tasks.

Install NoScript and see what the world is really like without JAVA, JavaScript, or Flash. It should be an eye-opening experience in (in)accessibility.