[ckan-dev] CKAN and JavaScript

Tue May 29 15:00:37 UTC 2012

On 29 May 2012 15:44, Aron Carroll <aron.carroll at okfn.org> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I've been asked to summarise the general approach to using JavaScript on
> CKAN
> moving forward.
>
> As CKAN is a website designed to enable users to find and explore datasets
> and can be deployed in a wide variety of environments it's very important
> that
> the site is usable by as broad an audience as possible.
>
> So all key features of the site should be implemented and work without
> JavaScript. This provides the following benefits.
>
> * The site content is indexable and searchable via search engines like
> Google.
> * Content is accessible to screen readers and other assistive technology.
> * The site functions for users without JavaScript enabled, while the
> scripts load or
>  if an error occurs breaking the app.
> * Keeping JavaScript to a minimum reduces load times and keeps page weight
>  down.
>
> It also keeps majority of the application in Python which is the primary
> language
> of the CKAN team and reduces the maintenance cost of having large portions
> of
> application logic in two places.
>
> This means adding using HTML forms that submit to CKAN rather than
> directly to
> the API. Providing error messages in the HTML source and ensuring all
> content
> is included in the html source on page load. JavaScript can then be used
> to make
> features richer and enhance the experience.
>
> Some features such as the data previewer are going to require JavaScript.
> Others
> are more complicated, for example the search facets. Ideally these would
> provide
> the same functionality with or without JavaScript but there is an argument
> that
> they provide auxiliary functionality as long as the basic form works on
> it's own.
> These should be evaluated and discussed on a feature by feature basis.
>
>
Thanks aron looks good.  Maybe this should be commentary for the javascript
coding standards

> Cheers,
> Aron
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