I'm not talking about minimizing for the sake of minimizing. I'm talking about not using JavaScript for the sake of JavaScript. Or better, not using JavaScript because you can't be bothered to understand what your problem is or how to avoid it.
- Page content doesn't need to be side-loaded in AJAX.
- Site layouts don't need to be set in JavaScript at page load. Animated menus don't need to be done in JavaScript and neither do pinned toolbars, doing so usually causes issues and stuttering when scrolling because you have a script running every pixel shift.
- Every link on the page doesn't need to be a JavaScript function, it makes bookmarking or opening in a new window difficult to impossible to what benefit?
- If you do want something to open in a new window, you also do not need JavaScript.
- User controls don't need to be JavaScript and when they are, they usually fail to work in mobile.
- Popover slideshow galleries don't need JavaScript to manage page reflow. Most shopping sites do this for their product images and it completely falls apart on Mobile when you pinch-zoom.
Far to often I find myself on pages that are unresponsive (not referring to Responsive Design) because they're so laden with JavaScript that everything comes to a screeching halt. Or worse still, some syntax error in one script brings the whole page down or one script reference doesn't load and the page is completely unusable.
