Since 2005 JavaScript has become the underground Lingua Franca of Internet.

And now the underground is reaching the surface, JavaScript isn't that slow anymore.

At this point, I see no solution to escape it. I agree, unfortunately, you must use JavaScript. Or die in obscurity (that later one is a little bit an exageration).

It simply "makes sense" to have the client do as much of the job as possible so that the server does as little as possible.