web app Google Search no longer works without JavaScript.

[Ertio]

Google Search used to work with HTML and CSS only, with JavaScript being optional. Now, JavaScript is necessary. (sources: slashdot, techcrunch)

 

  Quote

In an email to TechCrunch, a company spokesperson claimed that the change is intended to “better protect” Google Search against malicious activity

Google simply couldn't resist dropping the P-bomb ("protect") again (context), could they?

I am not sure how requiring JavaScript is supposed to protect against anything. If anything, it increases vulnerability.

 

Now, you might be asking:

  Quote

But pretty much everyone has JavaScript, so what is so bad about it?

 

Well, I'm glad you asked. It is because (1) not all JavaScript is the same and because (2) it's slower.

 

There are many versions (or iterations) of JavaScript. If a website uses a feature only existent in a recent version of JavaScript, the site will be completely inaccessible in any web browser released before this version of JavaScript. This can break the site in a web browser version released just weeks ago, so this isn't a problem that only affects years-old browsers.

 

JavaScript is unlike HTML and CSS, where unsupported features are just ignored by the web browser and the site will mostly just work fine. When sites start requiring JS, they sometimes require a very recent version of JS, so they cut off even read-only access to older web browsers, even though it would be perfectly safe.

 

Besides, pretty much all large sites have switched to requiring JavaScript. For example, YouTube switched to requiring JavaScript in 2017 (polymer), Twitter in 2019 (Twitter Web App, using react JS), Instagram in 2015 (react JS), Archive.org in 2023 (redesign using Lit.dev), Reddit in 2018 (though they still run old.reddit.com which works without JavaScript).

 

Until 2017, only video playback on YouTube required JavaScript, but title and description could still be viewed without it and channels could still be browsed. They're just text and pictures after all.

 

Even if browsers support JavaScript, a site requiring JavaScript (or "web app") consumes more power and loads slower than a site where JavaScript is only optional "web site" (source: Progressive enhancement is faster – Jake Archibald).

 

  Quote

Why not just update the browser?

Sometimes people may be stuck with older browsers. For example, some Smart TVs have firmwares that are no longer updated, and buying a new TV just to get a newer web browser isn't worth it.

 

Years ago, me and classmates actually used the lightweight HTML-based Google on old school computers that had out-of-date browsers. As students, we obviously lacked the permission to update the browser.

 

DuckDuckGo thankfully still maintains html.duckduckgo.com for compatibility.

 

[I hereby release this post into the public domain, as described in CC0 1.0.]