I want to agree, but don't. Javascript is nice. Leave a comment on HN, then push back to go out to the home page. Wait, you're back at your comment.
This flow is obviously not ideal, and would be prevented with a little Javascript.
This flow is obviously not ideal, and would be prevented with a little Javascript.
... Or better standards that don't require JavaScript. The jump from "we need seamless navigation" to "let's use a Turing-complete language" makes zero sense.
Modern reddit does not gracefully degrade: it requires JS to click buttons, to load images, to scroll, etc. Old reddit still works well without JS. So does Google for that matter.
The new web caters to advertisers, and rightly assumes that everyone has a browser that follows JavaScript standards.
The principle that site designers need to start abiding by is to not reinvent the browser--there's no need to use JS for routing or single page apps. The browser does that fantastically already. All that's needed of JS is to add asynchronicity to pages that need to update state without interrupting a running service.