Hint: you don't need JavaScript to do that.
Doesn't.
> try opening the site with javascript turned off.
Exactly how I tested it: in the middle was Chrome. But I use Opera.
Now consider: If I'm ordinary user and I'm supposed to be helped to turn on JavaScript, I certainly don't need to see five darned icons "IE FFox Chrome Safari Opera" as the main information presented on the page. I came to the site with one browser, not with five of them. In that browser, the JavaScript is turned off. I certainly don't need the long page with the the instructions for all of them.
But as tav noted here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1794305 (although I don't agree to his "it is good as it is") -- the bigger problem is: if I'm using IE and I turn JavaScript off, I certainly know how to turn it on.
So who's the target user? I still posit that the target of the OP site are only lazy web developers ("ooh lookie I can link to this site from my noscript")
Isn't JavaScript turned on by default in most webbrowsers, at least the ones that a non-techie is likely to use? In that case, it's either already activated or if it's not the user must have turned it off herself - but in that case she should know how she did that and how to undo it, right?
Oh, well, perhaps one could say that at least this is a nice little reminder for those who have never used a menu or a preference window. ;-)
But wait, how would I even find this site when I need it? Should I bookmark it, just in case I ever turn off JavaScript and then forget how to turn it back on again? Because otherwise I'm sure googling "turn on javascript <mybrowser>" would have gotten me the right answer quickly even without this page.
I would never, because his site is as far from the right approach as it can be. See:
The real reason why it's not so useful is because those who turn off Javascript tend to be power users who know how to turn it back on...
Not wanting to be down on the browsers, but most of them don't present particularly intuitive options/tools, might be a good idea to tell the end user what javascript first...
Yes, it has flaws, and lots of people use it without really understanding how it works / best practices etc, but purely for it's accessibility and ubiquity, coupled with its charming quirks and idiosyncracies, I think it's great.
It baffles my mind that more people don't appreciate Javascript for the lovely little scripting language that it is.
The non-javascript version of the page looks great too. (And moves the noscript-instruction to the bottom.)
