Why requiring javascript is bad

I am working on a help desk system (slowly, trying to get it right) and it’s running in production for a local team to use.

They reminded me why requiring javascript is a terrible idea. One of the team members was browsing a ticket on his phone and wanted to close it, but it was using javascript to submit a hidden form to generate a POST (a common thing in web apps) and his phone was just doing a GET request. He got an error, I got an email about the error.

I had to let the team member know that he did nothing wrong, but that I had taken the lazy way out and not provided a non-js solution for closing a ticket. Now this help desk system is very unfinished and they understand that, but I see “complete” systems that require javascript everywhere.

Think hard about whether you want to punish users for using a site in ways that are convenient for them.

Was going to make a sandwich. Bought some mayo for the sandwich. Got home, started making sandwich, mayo rolls off counter and shatters on floor. This pretty much sums up my entire weekend.

Icy rain again. Pretty crazy weather.

Converting a regular association to a polymorphic association on a production app is not an easy task, but I might as well.

I thought merb would use a considerably less amount of memory to run than rails, but it turns out it’s pretty close.

My medium sized rails app is using around 40 MB of memory at the moment. My small merb app (a few models and one controller) is using 33 MB. If I remove datamapper and my models, it goes down to 22 MB.

However, the merb process is threaded, so technically I could run with just one and handle as much work as three or four (maybe more?) rails processes, so it’s a win in the end for this particular project I need it for.

It’s starting to snow. That means it’s time to head home before everyone starts driving crazy and crashing into me.