Javascript & Shopping cart- is it acceptable to force use of JS?

Bes · 1 Apr 2009 at 23:55

Hi

I am in the process of buying/ setting up a cart.

I am looking to use CS Cart. It's great, BUT has one very very major flaw....

You cannot add anything to the basket if Javascript is disabled in your browser.

Now I am developing a web application to customise products before you buy that does actually only work with JS at the moment (I was planning to also come up with a reduced- functionality non- JS version, but is it ever acceptable to have a cart that requires JS to work? Would it cost me many sales?

Thanks

Bes · 2 Apr 2009 at 14:47

Anyone?

Shoseki · 2 Apr 2009 at 19:18

Lots of them require javascript...

Bes · 3 Apr 2009 at 00:03

Shoseki said:
Lots of them require javascript...

So I've noticed- lots of the big online retailers don't though. So I wonder.... what's teh solution? just to suck it up and use a JS cart?

Bes · 3 Apr 2009 at 08:49

So far I have found:

DOES require JS:

X-Cart (Poor user reviews, horrible workflow)
CS Cart (Good user reviews)
Magento (Too heavy/ slow/ painful to configure)

DOES NOT require JS:

PrestaShop (Too basic for me- no SEO built in, no stats, returns mgmt, etc)
Interspire Cart (Too expensive)

Not considered

CRE Loaded (Rubbish when I saw it)
Zen Cart ( Too many security holes)
Open Cart (Dont like the look/ feel)
OSCommerce ( Too many security holes)
Cube Cart (Hear a lot of complaints about the management side of it)

Anything else worth considering, and should I be worried about the JS thing?

Thanks

Edit: Aha! Just had a mail from the support guys at CS Cart, apparently the next release does gracefully degrade to allow non- JS browsers to shop

probedb · 3 Apr 2009 at 09:24

From a usability and accessibility point of view you should never force someone to have to use Javascript.....it should always have a non-JS version to fall back to.

Though the current school of thought is progressive enhancement rather than graceful degradation.

suarve · 3 Apr 2009 at 22:46

why force someone to use javascript for something as simple as a cart, esp when they are so easy to do with something like PHP.

Seems really bad for useability, esp if disabling javascript means users can't do something major on your site like add stuff to a cart.

Energize · 3 Apr 2009 at 22:49

Why would someone not have javascript in the first place?

suarve · 3 Apr 2009 at 23:00

Energize said:
Why would someone not have javascript in the first place?

Still, it's best not to have a shopping cart (of all things lol) written entirely reliant on having javascript turned on.

intellix · 4 Apr 2009 at 13:27

Well... I don't know how many people have JavaScript disabled (my analytics says 2% but that's mine)

Still seems crazy to have something that shadows a percentage of your sales... Surely it's possible to just add text-links to add things to basket?

Apparently in 2007, this site shows that during their recorded months the amount of users with JavaScript disabled was between 0.5 - 3.4%:
http://www.beachwebdesign.co.uk/resources/javascript-access-statistics.php

Doesn't seem like a lot but... how hard can it be to add a text-link to add to basket?

Pros / Cons of a JavaScript enabled cart vs one without?

Mattus · 4 Apr 2009 at 21:30

Energize said:
Why would someone not have javascript in the first place?

It's not so much not having it as not using it. Some people have it turned off or use NoScript because it can be a security risk.

Energize · 4 Apr 2009 at 21:35

I use noscript as well but I always switch it on as soon as I see the site is legitimate and need to use it. I can't imagine losing sales because of it.