The Dreaded 404 Page

No matter how careful you are, sometime someone is going to try to pull up a page on your web site that doesn't exist. You might move a page or they might mis-type a URL or follow a link of someone else that mis-typed a URL.

When it happens, unless you take precautions, the user gets your web server's default 404 page. This is generally a plain white page that tells them in geek-speak that the page doesn't exist. In observing casual web users, the most common reaction that I have seen to this error is for the user to decide that the site no longer exists (ouch!).

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I was reading through Bill Rawlinson's blog and in two different entries he mentions Unobtrusive Javascript. I had to check it out.

After reading about it, I have to say that I am thoroughly amazed. These are thoughts that I had been having about JavaScript in a general sense, but taken to a level that I hadn't yet reached (or, let's be honest, gotten very close to). From now on, my goal in writing JavaScript will be to meet those guidelines.

In short, Unobtrusive JavaScript is an an attempt to separate functionality from HTML so that functionality doesn't polute the mark-up. This is for essentially the same purpose as separating styling from HTML. It should also make sure not to hinder a page from working when JavaScript isn't available or get in the way of accessibility.

Read about Unobtrusive Javascript.