[Mailman-Users] What would your dream Mailman web interface look like?

[Bill Cole]

On 6 Apr 2015, at 20:02, Andrew Stuart wrote:

> Sounds like not working with JavaScript is something important to you. 
>  What’s the thinking behind wanting to work without JavaScript?  
> Isn’t it kinda hard to navigate the modern web without JavaScript?

I don't know the original poster's motivations, but for me it is 
entirely practical. I work in a diverse variety of environments 
administering a complex menagerie of systems and Mailman is just one 
small piece of that. I frequently don't have a convenient modern GUI 
browser configured to my tastes/paranoias running on a network I trust, 
and it is actually more convenient for me to use a text browser with 
weak or no JS support (yes, really.) It is also an issue for user 
support, since users do work with the MM web interface from time to 
time. JS is an area where interop between browsers and the diverse ways 
users tweak them is at its worst. Supporting users who have found new 
ways for the MM web interface to not work because of JS subtleties 
sounds like at least the 6th ring of Hell. Also, sticking with a pure 
HTML client interface makes it easier to validate its security, e.g. a 
site with no scripts has no XSS vulnerabilities. MM isn't the sort of 
web application that one spends hours at a time using, so the slicker 
operation you can get from a JS-heavy system isn't really very valuable.

Short version: a tool like the MM web interface should minimize the 
possible failure modes even if that means sacrificing some fluidity of 
use.