[sgdesign]

I'm one of the developers of the survey app. While I would love to have the app work seamlessly without JavaScript, the reality is that when you build apps with a React/Next.js stack the path of least resistance does usually take you in a direction that requires JS to work.

Personally I don't see it as a good or bad thing, it's just one way of building web apps, and it so happens it's the one I know how to do.

[SanderNL]

Nothing against you, but it’s kind of depressing to me.

It’s easy to make this work without JS. It’s telling that this is the state of ‘HTML’. These skills are rusting away and it’s a sad thing.

[sgdesign]

Taking the survey myself definitely showed me my own HTML skills are rusty as a consequence of building JavaScript apps for the last decade.

The truth is that building web apps is a large and complex enough field that it's quite hard for a single person to master all of it, and I think we should normalize the fact that any single developer will have their areas of strength and weakness.

[SanderNL]

Agreed. I think the two of us can talk all day about the necessity of it becoming a “large and complex field”. I accept I am an old miser about it, but it is indeed the reality.

[VancouverMan]

I only got part-way through the survey before moving on, but based on what I did see of it, it doesn't look like an alternative HTML-only/non-JavaScript version should be that hard to put together at all for future surveys.

Just do it on a single page, in one big form that's submitted at the end. Don't even bother with styling it.

If a version like that were available, I probably would've completed the survey because I could have more easily judged how long it would take to finish it.

[sylware]

I would recommend 2D semantic HTML documents (using a table), and no, HTML tables are not harmful (https://webaim.org/techniques/tables/ with a real life example https://iroiro.neocities.org/ ). People with visual impairment can still navigate easily (see webaim page above) with screen readers.

If you want to browse openstreetmap (have an instance on my home server with my email): https://www.rocketgit.com/user/sylware/lnanohtmltiledmap (could be used as a base).

[eric-burel]

How do you detect which version to serve in this case? Using User-agent server-side, or something else client-side? Or maybe letting the user decide using a separate website?

[ilrwbwrkhv]

It's a bit ironic to host the state of html survey in an environment that absolutely requires JavaScript. It is also a pretty bad thing since progressive enhancement is a key principle of the web.

[sylware]

Yep, I am going to explain exactly that to my administration, with my lawyer.