It is rare that I rant with such venom, but the current suite of big name websites could learn a thing or two when it comes to Javascript.

Javascript is a great piece of technology that can really enhance the user experience on the web, techniques deemed “ajax” have in fact been around for years, but of late we are really seeing huge possibilities to enhance websites with a generous sprinkling of Javascript, creating more interactive enjoyable websites.

So why am I taking the time to moan?

Browsers normally are quite nice about Javascript errors – they don’t really throw it in your face. Look in the bottom left hand corner of your browser in sites like www.youtube.com and you will find a little yellow triangle with an exclamation mark.  This means there is a javascript error. This in itself would not “get my goat up” as it were.

As a thorough / anal tester of websites I have set my browser to display errors, so I am constantly confronted by boxes like this:

Errors on websites will always occur as we are all human, but Javascript errors should be obvious and fixed. I will be writing to youtube.com to express my concerns.

Rant over.