Possible addition to approval criteria

I purchase quite a few different items from all the Envato range and I would like to make a suggestion that relates to the approval of pre made themes.

Sometimes I have purchased themes that use JavaScript within the menu, there is no issue with this in itself but it becomes an issue when you try to visit that template without JavaScript switched on, this in turn removes the ability to see all the available pages within a menu as the drop down menu will not work.

As most web developers know having a menu that is reliant on JavaScript is not a good idea due to accessibility and the fact that search engines might not be able to follow the links I propose that it be a requirement that all main menus must work fully with a css alternative in the event that JavaScript is switched of by a visitor.

I cannot remember how many times I have purchased a theme and had to mess about with the menus to create a css alternative for a drop down that should work without having to mess about like that.

I thank you for your consideration.

I haven’t yet seen a single theme that has the menu broken when disabling JS. JS is used just for fancy effects, not to actually make the menu work. That’s CSS territory and reviewers check that a theme works decently w/o JS.

And since we’re on the JS ‘issue’, when is this myth going to end? Try going to Gmail, Facebook or Yahoo!Mail without JS on. Everyone provides a fallback, no need to worry. Don’t have JS enabled? Fine, you won’t see any fading/sliding/ajax content loading/etc. But it will work.

Or, perhaps, you found a theme that doesn’t? Without pointing to the theme/author, can you provide a hands-on example?

digitalimpact said
I haven’t yet seen a single theme that has the menu broken when disabling JS. JS is used just for fancy effects, not to actually make the menu work. That’s CSS territory and reviewers check that a theme works decently w/o JS.

That is a big assumption and its completely untrue with exception of the fact that JS ‘should’ only be used for fancy effects but in some cases they dont and its been allowed up to this point.

I can only assume that up until this point the reason you have not found any like that is because maybe you are not thinking to check them, as I purchase for clients when they want to save loads of money on a bespoke website I check these things as a matter of course.

These are just some that were offered under ‘new items’ in the wordpress category but equally there are plenty of templates that manage to include a css alternative even if sometimes the menu does not look great, at least its there.

I wasn’t doing assumptions, most themes I’ve checked worked fine.

But you are right, there are some very popular themes that are very poorly thought with regards to this aspect… Watching the demos and can’t believe my eyes…

So indeed, you have a point, even if this will get locked up because you placed those links…

Question: on average, have you checked how many of your client’s visitors have JS turned off?

Reviewers, any thoughts on this?

digitalimpact said
Question: on average, have you checked how many of your client’s visitors have JS turned off?

Not my clients no, as I have maintenance agreements usually they are used for adding or editing as I have an external company deal with their S.E.O, I dont personally check their analytics’s.

here are some global statistics though for how many people have JavaScript switched off

UK 1 .29% , U.S 2.06% , France 1.46% , Spain 1.28% , Brazil 0.26%

I know it does not seem much but obviously you have to look at the bigger picture that can dwindle potential sales.

has anyone else got any any thoughts on this, should it be done ?

My reply to your clients would be to turn JS on. There is no need to have it turned off at this point.

Your reply is about 5 months old. :))