[plugnburn]

The next major update in all browsers absolutely must be this: inability to turn off JS. Because no one in a sane state would EVER do this now.

Why not a checkbox to turn off HTML? It would be just as "useful"...

I do need JS to achieve all my goals that can be achieved with JS. For those things that can be achieved without JS but often mistakenly involve it (hamburger menus, animations etc), I use plain markup and CSS3. But I'm not going to ruin the UX on mobiles, where in developing countries traffic still matters, just for some paranoid freaks' sake.

[smadge]

Also, I'm not a "paranoid freak"

I'm just curious about how the web works and how modern sites use JavaScript.

Maybe I'm talking out my ass, since UX isn't my field, but I imagine that 90% of UX is "the application allows me to do the thing I'm using it for, it has logically layed out screens, and navigating between screens is fast and intuitive." I think hypermedia accounts for these concerns. Sure there are some annoyances, like "voting on a comment or article causes the screen to flash." It's a little jarring but everything still functions. You can sprinkle some JavaScript in, like on HN, to smooth that over.

[smadge]

Your site will be much more usable in developing countries with low spec mobile devices and high latency, low bandwidth networks if you design it to function first without JavaScript. You will reduce page weight, and client side CPU usage.

[plugnburn]

Client-side CPU usage, as well as page weight, isn't a problem if JS is done right. Angular-like bloatware certainly ruins all the zen. But that doesn't mean you should rush to another margin and make everything server-side. Modern web technologies allow you to keep everything beautiful, smooth AND lightweight. But in order to achieve that, you'll need to learn more than a couple of bloatware libs like angular or jquery. In fact, you need to forget them and start thinking for real. And study, study and once more study MDN manuals.

Language doesn't make Web slow and bulky. People do.

[smadge]

Agreed! Learning the latest and greatest library isn't going to make you a better developer. I'm not saying client side scripting has no place on the web, I'm just saying for many purposes its place is overrated, and that basic functionality can be provided through hypermedia alone.