[alecst]

I agree with you. It definitely does not serve the user. I have two thoughts, as a nobody.

1. Ads/trackers/etc. need javascript 2. It's a way of flexing and saying "we have resources to put into this webpage which makes us a serious business."

Any other thoughts?

[dgb23]

Things that are running based on JS on "regular" sites from the top of my head:

- Toggling widgets such as menus, modals and other things you only want to show when the user requests it. This includes updating accessibility related HTML attributes.

- filtering, sorting etc. of larger data sets in the client.

- live updates of fresh, time related data

- search that doesn't force a complete reload, via AJAX or cached on the client.

- smoother page / content transitions via AJAX

- everything related to forms / user input: you want to instantly react

- managing and preserving state / context per user

- visualizations / graphs that are explorable / interactive

- polyfills for older browsers that don't support optimizations such as lazy loading.

- interactive widgets such as chat boxes (not a fan but still)

- testing and analytics

A website isn't made of paper.

[apabepa]

Yes the ads/trackers/etc is most likely a reason that a webpage cannot be completely without javascript.

Two other possible reasons from the top of my head:

If a web developer is hired to make a site they can probably charge more if it is a fancy javascript site. In some cases it might be in their self interest to up-sell this to a client that does not know better.

If a web developer makes a site for themselves I am sure many want to take the opportunity to get some experience in the latest web-tech while they are at it. Just as I will use an obscure programming language for my next side project..