Digital Leigh

It seems to me that service design has a touch of ‘emporers new clothes’ about it. It’s being hailed as something new and different, yet, years ago, I was doing it already, helping design services that spread across a large corporate, touched multiple users and needed qualification, research and a criteria for ’success’ to be measured against.

For some organisations to only recently realise that a service is made up of multiple components, greater than a single department or area, and only just start managing this experience, just seems amazing! Where have they been?

Most services could do with an external judgement / view on them, and there are some excellent processes which can help facilitate this, but.. is it new and different? I’m not so sure.

This is a question which I could understand many years ago. In the early days javascript wasn’t very secure with internet explorer. Back in 2004 it was said that “JavaScript has a long and inglorious history of atrocious security holes”. So I have given some of my views, some of which people may not like.

Now I’m sure that someone will find some holes in javascript every now and then, but it’s no where near as insecure as it used to be?

Well, it looks like it may not be, especially if you are using an older browser. So lesson one, keep your browser up-to-date if possible. My kids school uses internet explorer 6 still and we there a large corporates out there that can’t upgrade as their software doesn’t render in newer versions. oooh, nasty.

Website can degrade gracefully when JavaScript is turned off. There is no rule saying a site must look the same if you have Javascript turned off.

So, back to, why do people disable javascript?

Here are some reasons I can think of. I will probably add to it over time as we spend a lot of time making sure that websites work without javascript. So do we really need to?

1. They are a developer.
   When developing a site we frequently turn javascript on and off to test it is working.
2. They are a control freak.
   I have worked with people that always turn it off. They like the web to be ‘pure’. What a load of nonsense. Websites are made of many parts, like a car, some are essential, some just make the bodywork look nice. But…I suppose at least you can turn it off with most browsers.
3. Using an old browser. Well, guess what, upgrade.
   If you can’t because you work for an organisation that centrally controls it, then get ready for a poorer web experience than most and don’t complain.
4. I hate popups.
   Some sites use javascript to give you horrible popups. There are other ways around these other than simply turning it off. If you do decide to turn it off.. again.. don’t complain if the websites look poor.
5. Accessibility
   Some readers don’t support Javascript very well. This is the one that frustrates me the most. Why does someone that has a disability have to work with crap technology. Now to be fair, there aren’t as many users of text readers as users of Internet Explorer, so how much money do Microsoft put into the pot to keep the technology up-to-date? http://webaim.org/projects/screenreadersurvey2/#javascript

   I worked with someone a few years ago that used an accessible piece of technology. At the time Flash had virtually no way of being accessible, and his software didn’t support it. When I pointed out that there was a new version that worked better, the old curmudgeon said ‘I like this version’. My answer was quite pointed. Upgrade and stop complaining.

   I have a lot of sympathy for people forced to use crap software. Any developer should do their utmost to make sure that their sites work with seamlessly and include accessible information. Just remember though, it takes longer, so costs you more.

6. Speed. It’s faster without Javascript
   True, many sites load faster without Javascript. Again, don’t complain if it doesn’t look as nice and, get a faster internet connection! There is a lot than can be done to optimise loading speeds with most sites. For example, put your JavaScript at the end of the body tag (check it still works). At least the page will load first, then your nice pretty JavaScript animations can kick in later.

Free high resolution logos to use

http://www.designws.com/pagina/1dream.htm