6.3 Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other programmatic objects are turned off or not supported

Programmatic objects include scripts, applets and other plug-ins. Content presented in these formats may be inaccessible to these individuals.

Many users have eqipment that won’t run scripts, applets or other programmatic objects. For example:

• They use old or non-mainstream hardware and software that doesn’t support the scripting languages or supports only earlier versions
• They may be working in an environment where a firewall blocks scripts and applets are blocked for security reasons
• They cannot download plug-ins for security reasons
• They can't use a mouse and can't, therefore, interact with scripts that require mouse input
• They may be using a form of assistive technology, such as a screen reader, which cannot access the contents of the script, applet or object
• They may have turned off support for script handling to speed things up

You should:

• Avoid using scripts that are essential to page content (as opposed to trivial, e.g., adding colour effects when the mouse is moved over an object) so the page still works when the scripts are turned off.
• Avoid using JavaScript as a link target. A browser that doesn’t support javascript cannot do anything with this, so the link is effectively broken
• Use the <noscript> tag. Browsers that don’t support scripting display the contents of the <noscript> tage. The guidelines suggest that where you have content in <script> tags, you should provide a <noscript> alternative
• Use server-side scripts instead of client-side scripts. If you use a client-side script and the client does not support scripting, nothing at all will happen. But in many cases, you can achieve the same functionality using a server-side script with the result returned to the client as an updated page
• Provide a text equivalent of the information