Browsing the web with JavaScript turned off
Some time ago, I tried to use my web browser with JavaScript turned off by default. The experiment didn’t last long, and my attempt at a privacy-protecting, pain-free web experience failed. Too many websites rely on JavaScript, which made this type of web browsing rather uncomfortable.
I’ve kept a Safari extension like StopTheScript around, on top of a content blocker like Wipr, just in case I needed to really “trim the fat” of the occasional problematic webpage.*1
Recently, I’ve given this setup a new chance to shine, and even described it in a post. The results are in: the experiment failed yet again.
But I’m not done.
Even if this exact setup isn’t the one I currently rely on, JavaScript-blocking is nevertheless still at the heart of my web browsing hygiene on the Mac today.
For context, this need for fine-tuning comes from the fact that my dear old MacBook Air from early 2020, rocking an Intel chip, starts to show its age. Sure, it already felt like a 10-year-old computer the moment the M1 MacBook Air chip was released, merely six months after I bought it, but let’s just say that a lot of webpages make this laptop choke. My goal of making this computer last one more year can only be reached if I manage to not throw the laptop through the window every time I want to open more than three tabs.
My current setup
On my Mac, JavaScript is now blocked by default on all pages via StopTheScript. Leaving JavaScript on, meaning giving web sites a chance, sort of defeated the purpose of my setup (performance and privacy). Having JS turned off effectively blocks 99% of ads and trackers (I think, don’t quote me on that) and makes browsing the web a very enjoyable experience. The fan barely activates, and everything is as snappy and junk-free as expected.
For websites that require JavaScript — meaning frequently visited sites like YouTube or where I need to be logged in like LanguageTool — I turn off StopTheScript permanently via the Websites > Extensions menu in the Safari Settings. I try to keep this list to a bare minimum, even if this means I have to accept a few annoyances like not having access to embedded video players or comments on some websites.
For instance, I visit the Guardian multiple times daily yet I won’t add it to the exception list, even if I’m a subscriber and therefore not exposed to the numerous “please subscribe” modals. I can no longer hide some categories on the home page, nor watch embedded videos: a small price to pay for a quick and responsive experience, and a minimal list of exceptions.
For the few times when I actually need to watch a video on the Guardian, comment on a blog post, or for the occasional site that needs JavaScript simply to appear on my screen (more on that later), what I do is quickly open the URL in a new private window. There, StopTheScript is disabled by default (so that JavaScript is enabled: sorry, I know this is confusing).
Having to reopen a page in a different browser window is an annoying process, yes. Even after a few weeks it still feels like a chore, but it seems to be the quickest way on the Mac to get a site to work without having to mess around with permissions and exceptions, which can be even more annoying on Safari. Again, a small price to pay to make this setup work.*2
Another perk of that private browsing method is that the ephemeral session doesn’t save cookies and the main tracking IDs disappear when I close the window. I think.
The problem I had at first was that these sessions tended to display the webpages as intended by the website owners: loaded with JavaScript, ads, modals, banners, trackers, &c. Most of the time, it is a terrible mess. Really, no one should ever experience the general web without any sort of blocker.
To solve this weakness of my setup, I switched from Quad9 to Mullvad DNS to block a good chunk of ads and trackers (using the “All” profile). Now, the private window only allows the functionality part of the JavaScript, a few cookie banners and Google login prompt annoyances, but at least I am not welcomed by privacy-invading and CPU-consuming ads and trackers every time my JS-free attempt fails.
I know I could use a regular content blocker instead of a DNS resolver, but keeping it active all the time when JS is turned off feels a bit redundant and too much of an extension overlap. More importantly, I don’t want to be tempted to manage yet another exception list on top of the StopTheScript one (been there, done that, didn’t work in the long run). Also, with Safari I don’t think it’s possible to activate an extension in Private Mode only.
¶
John Gruber, in a follow-up reaction to The 49MB Web Page article from Shubham Bose, which highlights the disproportionate weight of webpages related to their content, wrote:
One of the most controversial opinions I’ve long espoused, and believe today more than ever, is that it was a terrible mistake for web browsers to support JavaScript. Not that they should have picked a different language, but that they supported scripting at all. That decision turned web pages — which were originally intended as documents — into embedded computer programs.
There would be no 49 MB web pages without scripting. There would be no surveillance tracking industrial complex. The text on a page is visible. The images and video embedded on a page are visible. You see them. JavaScript is invisible. That makes it seem OK to do things that are not OK at all.
Amen to that. But if JavaScript is indeed mostly used for this “invisible” stuff, why are some websites built to use it for the most basic stuff? Video streaming services, online stores, social media platforms, I get it: JavaScript makes sense. But text-based sites? Blogs? Why?
The other day I wanted to read this article, and only the website header showed up in my browser. Even Reader Mode didn’t make the article appear. When I opened the link in a private window, where StopTheScript is disabled, lo and behold, the article finally appeared.
For some obscure reason, on that website (and others) JavaScript is needed to load text on a freaking web page. Even if you want your website to have a special behaviour regarding loading speeds, design subtleties, or whatever you use JavaScript for, please, use a <noscript> tag, either to display the article in its most basic form, or at least to show a message saying “JavaScript needed for no apparent reason at all. Sorry.”*3