UI toolkits for Python

[Alex Martelli]

Paul Rubin <http://phr.cx@NOSPAM.invalid> wrote:

> Torsten Bronger <bronger at physik.rwth-aachen.de> writes:
> > Because everybody is capable of running a JS engine, even on
> > computers on which you don't have rights to install something.
> 
> I don't think using JS so heavily without a compelling reason is
> really in the WWW spirit.  Lots of browsers don't have JS.  And lots
> of JS is so annoying that some users like to turn it off even in
> browsers that have it.

I don't have the exact numbers, and I'm pretty certain they'd be
confidential if I did, but I believe the factors you mention (browsers
completely lacking JS, and users turning JS off), *combined*, still
allow JS-rich interfaces to run for well over 95% of visitors to our
sites.  Maybe that's the key difference between the mindset of a
mathematician and that of an engineer -- I consider reaching over 95% of
visitors to be _quite good indeed_, while you appear to disagree because
of "WWW spirit" issues.  Is making a rapidly responsive site (not
requiring roundtrips for every interaction) a "compelling reason"?  It
seems to me that it is -- and why else would one use ANY Javascript,
after all?

My one issue with the JS/AJAX mania is that I really dislike JS as a
language, particularly when you take the mixed mongrel dialect that you
do need to reach all the various browsers and releases needed to make
that 95% goal.  But, alas, there is really no alternative!-(


Alex