rocknbil - 12:12 am on Oct 10, 2007 (gmt 0)

First, allow me to say my comments here, as always, are just shared recommendations of what I have learned over the years. Use them or not, it's your choice.

what happens if the site's core functionality depends on JavaScript?

IMO this would be bad, very bad. Commercially it could lead to litigation. Your example is a decent one, but not outside what I call the basic rule of Javascript: always provide alternate content. Javascript is used to enhance, not rely upon.

With G-maps it's easy, one way is to do a screenshot of the map

<div id="my_map"><img src="my_screenshot.gif"></div>

Then you use Javascript to write the map:

my_map.innerHTML=variable_holding_map;

The saving grace with G-maps is they're not really vital content and you would (should) probably have alternate content somewhere else on the page defining the location anyway.

I do not see any difference at all between these two statements:

"You must have Javascript enabled to use this web site."
"This web site is optimized for Internet Explorer version xyz."

If you look at it that way, it reveals the old rule, you shouldn't dictate the user's environment for them.