Aweber's Javascript can -- well, here's why not to use it...
The first very good reason is because -- well -- what if the people on your website don't happen to have their javascript turned on.
Now, I admit, that is a rare occurrence.
But oddly enough, I found myself having turned off javascript twice in the last 24 hours. And I was signing up for email lists at the same time.
Last time I checked, when aweber gave you that cool little javascript snippet, they didn't ALSO supply you with some noscript html to follow it in case the person does have javascript turned off.
While these days, especially with the javascript-requiring AJAX spreading ubiquitously around the 'Net, it's rare to find someone who doesn't have it turned off.
I'm wondering...is what I learned in the professional webdesign courses I took no longer valid -- that when you have javascript, you should ALSO include a "no code" version so you don't lose the functionality.
Or...in this case...that email?
(Yes, yes, I know. Aweber provides all sorts of cool and interesting things, like automatic popups, tracking, split-testing -- just if you'd use their javascript webform code.)
BTW -- the way I was reminded that I had javascript off was because one of the nice ar's I signed up with DID have the "nocode" option and slapped me upside the head and said "you have javascript turned off..."
So here's problem #2:
I was tooling around one of my client's sites the other day -- and as I waited for the page to load...
and waited...
and waited...
I watched what was happening "behind the scenes" by watching the toolbar at the bottom of my browser (if you don't have one, it's because you haven't enabled the option. In Firefox -- you ARE using firefox, aren't you? -- you turn it on from view->status bar .)
There I was lazily watching the access to various websites...
One of which was access to aweber for the javascript version of their form code.
IOW -- Aweber was potentially costing us money because their site was slow to respond and consequently caused the page to load more slowly. (So all the visitor knows is ... "This is taking too long...good bye" (pushes back button).
It's really easy to slap in all those extra doodads into your sales page for tracking, popups, etc.
Be careful. Any site that your page accesses that isn't responsive can cause your sales to suffer. Google Analytics probably is a good bet for being responsive (and even then I sometimes wonder...)
This is a good reason for running any page-dependent scripts from your server, not from someone else's website. At least, if it's on your site, it's under your control.
And if you use aweber's html (and you can do some nifty things if you use the html version of their webform) -- your page will never be subject to slowness to respond on aweber's part. At least not until or unless your visitor presses the submit button.
Okay...
So much for my rant for the day.
Live JoyFully!
Judy
PS -- anyone think of any other good reasons not to use aweber's javascript?
Now, I admit, that is a rare occurrence.
But oddly enough, I found myself having turned off javascript twice in the last 24 hours. And I was signing up for email lists at the same time.
Last time I checked, when aweber gave you that cool little javascript snippet, they didn't ALSO supply you with some noscript html to follow it in case the person does have javascript turned off.
While these days, especially with the javascript-requiring AJAX spreading ubiquitously around the 'Net, it's rare to find someone who doesn't have it turned off.
I'm wondering...is what I learned in the professional webdesign courses I took no longer valid -- that when you have javascript, you should ALSO include a "no code" version so you don't lose the functionality.
Or...in this case...that email?
(Yes, yes, I know. Aweber provides all sorts of cool and interesting things, like automatic popups, tracking, split-testing -- just if you'd use their javascript webform code.)
BTW -- the way I was reminded that I had javascript off was because one of the nice ar's I signed up with DID have the "nocode" option and slapped me upside the head and said "you have javascript turned off..."
So here's problem #2:
I was tooling around one of my client's sites the other day -- and as I waited for the page to load...
and waited...
and waited...
I watched what was happening "behind the scenes" by watching the toolbar at the bottom of my browser (if you don't have one, it's because you haven't enabled the option. In Firefox -- you ARE using firefox, aren't you? -- you turn it on from view->status bar .)
There I was lazily watching the access to various websites...
One of which was access to aweber for the javascript version of their form code.
IOW -- Aweber was potentially costing us money because their site was slow to respond and consequently caused the page to load more slowly. (So all the visitor knows is ... "This is taking too long...good bye" (pushes back button).
It's really easy to slap in all those extra doodads into your sales page for tracking, popups, etc.
Be careful. Any site that your page accesses that isn't responsive can cause your sales to suffer. Google Analytics probably is a good bet for being responsive (and even then I sometimes wonder...)
This is a good reason for running any page-dependent scripts from your server, not from someone else's website. At least, if it's on your site, it's under your control.
And if you use aweber's html (and you can do some nifty things if you use the html version of their webform) -- your page will never be subject to slowness to respond on aweber's part. At least not until or unless your visitor presses the submit button.
Okay...
So much for my rant for the day.
Live JoyFully!
Judy
PS -- anyone think of any other good reasons not to use aweber's javascript?