JavaScript for Web Design – Advantages and Disadvantages

This article looks at the good and bad points of using JavaScript in your website designs. It points out the areas in which JavaScript excels as a web-based programming language, and also describes situations in which its use can degrade the performance of a website.

First of all, JavaScript is a browser-based programming language that actually runs on the client side. This means that any code you write in JavaScript is delivered along with your web pages, and the scripts you write are actually executed from the users browser instead of directly on the server serving the web page. There are situations where JavaScript is a great solution to implement cool features in a web design, but there are also situations where the use of JavaScript can affect the performance of your websites. My goal in this article is to describe the best ways to use JavaScript and how to get around the drawbacks of using this versatile and powerful scripting language.

JavaScript for Web Design – The Advantages

JavaScript is a great solution to implement when validating input forms on the client side. This means that if a user forgets to enter her name in a form, for example, a JavaScript validation function can display a popup message to inform them of the omission. This is a much better solution than having a server-side validation routine handle the error because the server doesn’t have to do any additional processing. An asp or php routine could be written to accomplish the same task, but JavaScript wouldn’t allow the form to be submitted unless it was completed successfully first, a much more robust solution!

Another area where JavaScript excels is in creating dynamic effects, such as dynamic images and scripted slideshows, where its use has become common. Because JavaScript runs inside the client’s browser, it can be used to change the appearance of the user’s screen after the server has delivered the page. This allows you to create some very impressive dynamic image effects.

JavaScript for Web Design: The Disadvantages

One of the main disadvantages of using JavaScript is that it tends to severely bloat web pages. JavaScript code can quickly add up to hundreds of lines of code if you’re using it to do anything remotely interesting. That being said, the problem of large JavaScript snippets is easily solved by storing the JavaScript code in separate JavaScript source files that have a .js extension. This cleans up your web page code because the JavaScript code is stored separately from the HTML page itself, leaving a much cleaner and more readable web page.

Due to JavaScript’s tendency to bloat web pages, it can be very detrimental to your website’s search engine compatibility. This is because when a search engine comes to your site looking for quality content and keywords to determine what your page is about, the last thing it wants to see is hundreds of lines of JavaScript code. Again, this problem is easily solved by neatly storing the JavaScript code in script files with a .js extension and linking the script file in your HTML documents.

Conclusion:

JavaScript is a feature-rich and useful browser-based script that, if used correctly, can achieve some great effects and improve the experience for the end user. There are drawbacks to using it, as it tends to bloat web pages. The key to remember is to get the best of both worlds by using JavaScript code in external script files. That way, your code is separated from your content so you get all the benefits of JavaScript functionality, but without the adverse effects of associated code bloat.