Optimizing JavaScript for Download Speed--Selections from Chapter 9 of Speed Up Your Site (3/3) WebReference.com | WebReference

Optimizing JavaScript for Download Speed--Selections from Chapter 9 of Speed Up Your Site (3/3) WebReference.com

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Speed Up Your Site, Chapter 9: Optimizing JavaScript for Download Speed

Apply JavaScripts Wisely

JavaScripts can be included in an (X)HTML document in any of four ways:

  • In an external file

  • Between a pair of <script>...</script> tags

  • In an event handler

  • After the javascript: pseudo-protocol in an URL

Let's use our minimal Mondrian to demonstrate them all:

<!DOCTYPE html 
   PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
   "https://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="https://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
<head>
<title>Piet Mondrian's Home Page</title>
<script src="/scripts/foo.js" defer="defer" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
   var foo = 1;
</script>
</head>
<body>
   <h1>Piet Mondrian: Abstract Impressionist</h1>
   <p>Mondrian was one of the great abstract masters...</p>
   <p><a onmouseover="window.status='Mondrian Home Page'; return true;"; href="https://www.mondrian.com">Mondrian.com</a></p> 
<p><a href="javascript:window.open('https://www.mondrian.com/')">Mondrian.com</a></p>
</body>
</html>

In honor of Mondrian and expediency, let's focus squarely on the first two options. Event handlers can be used to link behavior to elements (ideally with functions), but the javascript: pseudo-protocol should be avoided as the only reference of a link. The 11 percent of people without JavaScript won't be able to access this content.[3] This is not exactly user friendly.[4] A number of sites rely on JavaScript—even government sites that should be easily accessible like https://www.canadapost.ca/.

Here's the syntax of the script element:

<script>

Function:

Defines an executable script

Attributes:

CHARSET, DEFER, LANGUAGE (deprecated), SRC, TYPE

Examples:

<script type="text/javascript" src="/scripts/foo.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="/f.js" defer="defer"></script> /* optimized */

End tag:

</script>, not optional

Alternate:

<noscript>alternate content</noscript>

Used in:

<head>, <body>

3. TheCounter.com, "JavaScript Stats," in Global Statistics 2002 [online], (Darien, CT: Jupitermedia Corporation, October, 2002), available from the Internet at https://www.thecounter.com/stats/. Back

4. Pamela L. O'Connell, "Site Unseen?," New York Times, 14 February 2002, Circuits section, D3. Shirley Kaiser of WebStandards.org and I were quoted in this story about Olympics.com, a site that required JavaScript. Back

# # #

[Andy King is the founder and newsletter editor of WebReference.com. The companion Web site for this book can be found at: www.websiteoptimization.com.]


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Created: February 10, 2003
Revised: February 10, 2003

URL: https://webreference.com/programming/optimize/speedup/chap9/3.html