How Many Users Have JavaScript Disabled?

An article on the Yahoo developer blog states that about 1% of users to their collection of sites has Javascript disabled.

Makes sense. But what’s particularly interesting is when you express actual numbers:

The second takeaway is that JavaScript-disabled users exist. While 2% of U.S. visitors may not seem like a lot, keep in mind that over 300 million users visit the Yahoo! homepage each month. That means 6 million users visit each month without the benefit of JavaScript. So even though it’s worth spending your time on the JavaScript-enabled version of the site, there are still a non-trivial amount of users out there who won’t be able to use it.

While the percentage of visitors with JavaScript disabled seems like a low number, keep in mind that small percentages of big numbers are also big numbers.

My personal development style is to start with the scaffolding by writing the XHTML without any styling, make sure the site is still readable then add the CSS. After that’s in place, I wave my magic jQuery wand over it and make it do it’s tricks. This usually (USUALLY) ensures that a javascript-less user at least has access to the basics of the site.

But always, always, make sure that a visitor with javascript disabled at least has complete access to your login, contact and homepage. Always.