Fotiman - 6:47 pm on Oct 9, 2007 (gmt 0)

Seriously, do we really have to specify in every thread that "your page will be inaccessible to those with JavaScript disabled"?

Often times, there are more than one ways to approach a scripting issue. You can take the quick and dirty approach, which often means inaccessible to those with JavaScript disabled. Or you could develop using Progressive Enhancement, using methods that are available to everyone (even those with JS disabled), and then "enhance" that using JavaScript to get a solution that behaves the same as the non-accessible method (but now users won't be blocked if they have JS disabled).

When's the last time you installed a browser that didn't have JavaScript enabled? That means that anyone hitting your page with JavaScript turned off is someone who manually went into his options and turned them off.

What about mobile devices? Do you know if those have JavaScript enabled? How about screen readers for blind users? Making an assumption that anyone who does not have JS enabled means they turned it off themselves is a bad assumption.

I try my best to make my pages accessible to everyone but sometimes it's just not possible to do that and get the desired effect.

With the advanced DOM capabilities today, there is very little that can't be done by starting with a more basic approach, accessible to everyone, and then enhancing that (either by totally replacing certain DOM elements or by modifying existing ones, etc.). In some cases the pure method might be more difficult to grasp, but I've never found an inaccessible method that couldn't be re-written to be accessible.

Does it really matter? Should we care?

I would say yes, you should care. As pointed out, Target is facing a lawsuit for refusing to make their website accessible. But not only that, Progressive Enhancement has really changed JavaScript development techniques. Instead of bucking that trend, I would suggest that you embrace it. You will be a better developer for it and it will look good on your resume. :) Why limit your visitors because you're not willing to apply more current techniques?