One of the things I find most fascinating about using the #NoScript add-on with my web browser, is seeing how popular third-party script are, and just how many third-party domains some sites are subjecting their visitors to.
https://noscript.net/
For example, take rnz.co.nz, the website of the totally ad-free and publicly-funded #RadioNZ. What possible use could they have for third-party trackers? But it has no less than 5:
* chartbeat.com
* google-analytics.com
* googletagmanager.com
* imrworldwide.com
* newrelic.com
With estimated carbon emissions of 1.4g for every page visit, and according to:
https://www.websitecarbon.com/website/www-rnz-co-nz/
... it's not even powered by #RenewableEnergy despite #NZ's power supply being mostly from renewable sources.
If you think the smokestack sticking out of RNZ's website is bad, the same site calculates that digital magazine The #Spinoff.co.nz, emits a whopping 18g of carbon with every page view, also from dirty energy:
https://www.websitecarbon.com/website/thespinoff-co-nz/
Maybe that's something to do with serving scripts from at least 12 third-party domains, including known trackers like:
* addthis.com
* googletagmanager.com
* imrworldwide.com
* opmnstr.com
* parsely.com
#NZherald.co.nz, the website of one of our largest daily newspapers, also serves a bunch of third-party user-tracking scripts:
* crwdcntrl.net
* googletagmanager.com
* imrworldwide.com
But not as many as The Spinoff it seems, as their carbon emissions per page view are a tenth of that, at 1.8g:
https://www.websitecarbon.com/website/www-nzherald-co-nz/
Still from dirty energy though.
#Stuff.co.nz, the online portal for most of our other daily newspapers, serves scripts from at least 6 third-party domains, including:
* adobetm.com
* gigya.com
* google.com
* imrworldwide.com
This one is almost as carbon heavy as The Spinoff, with almost 17g per page view, also from dirty energy:
https://www.websitecarbon.com/website/www-stuff-co-nz/
#Scoop.co.nz is a #SocialEnterprise whose website publishes press releases, news coverage, and editorial pieces like #GordonCampbell digital magazine #Werewolf.
Scoop is the first NZ news site I've tested that is reported as using #RenewableEnergy, but still manages to emit an estimated 3 1/2 grams per page view:
https://www.websitecarbon.com/website/www-scoop-co-nz/
It also has the smallest third-party script load of the sites I've examined so far, although they include:
* google-analytics.com
* googletagservices.com
For an international comparison, let's look at theguardian.com, which publishes reporting and op eds from staunch #ClimateChange campaigner #GeorgeMonbiot. According to the calculator, The Guardian uses dirty power and emits roughly 1.3g of carbon per page view:
https://www.websitecarbon.com/website/www-theguardian-com-us/
Aside from guim.co.uk, which they own, their front page serves at least 2 third-party scripts including:
* google-analytics.com
* scorecardresearch.com
#TheDailyBlog.co.nz is a political commentary site run by Martyn #Bomber Bradbury, publishing pieces by left-leaning regular bloggers and guests (including myself). Sadly, they serve scripts from 7 third-party domains, including trackers like:
* doubleclick.net
* google.com
* googletagservices.com
* googletagmanager.com
* statcounter.com
#TDB publishes almost as many op eds about #ClimateChange as George Monbiot, but still emits an estimated 4.6g of carbon per page view:
https://www.websitecarbon.com/website/thedailyblog-co-nz/
#NewsHub.co.nz is the website for the newsroom for the #MediaWorks empire, including #TV3 and a number of commercial radio stations. As well as mediaworks.nz, they serve scripts from 4 third-party domains, including trackers from:
* adobetm.com
* googlesyndication.com
* googletagservices.com
* taboola.com
They emit an estimated 1.25g of carbon per page view - low compared to other NZ news and politics sites - despite using dirty energy for hosting:
https://www.websitecarbon.com/website/www-newshub-co-nz-home-html/
#TVNZ.co.nz is the website of #NZ's other countrywide free-to-air, #TV broadcaster, with a number of channels including TV1 and TV2. It's 100% publicly-owned, but fully commercial (for now). Despite using dirty energy for web hosting, its estimated to emit only 0.63g of carbon per page view:
https://www.websitecarbon.com/website/www-tvnz-co-nz/
(that's before you start to watch any videos, which is mainly what it's useful for)
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Unlike all the other news and politics sites I've looked at today, TVNZ.co.nz offers nothing but a loading screen to visitors with JS turned off (#MakeJavascriptOptional!). With JS turned on, the site has a horrifying number of third-party trackers including:
* facebook.net
* googletagmanager.com
* googletagservices.com
* imrworldwide.com
* instagram.com
* newrelic.com
* qualtrics.com
* segment.com
* sentry.io
(2/2)
@strypey
WebAssembly also should be turned off on all browsers. Unless its your #childsComputer and they want to play cheesy pre-compiled #videogames in the #browser for some reason.
For adults, to turn off #WebAssembly in #Firefox go to the about:config page and type #wasm in the searchbar. All the related items can then be disabled.
@strypey
WebAssembly is pre-compiled code sent direct to your browser - that's what we don't like about it. Javascript is bad enough and that is a scripted language (ie. anyone can at least read the client-side code if they wanted to).
We say #WipeAwayWebAssembly
Minified JS is probably not much more readable than decompiled WebAssembly compared to full source code.
On the other hand WebAssembly is faster, safer and can be a target for any language.
That said running random code downloaded implicitly from the internet as you try to read some text is a bad idea regardless how you implement it.
I bet that if browsers natively implemented top handful of ethical use cases for JS most websites would not need any scripts to work.
@brombek @strypey @alcinnz
If you mean, #DatePickers, #colourPickers, #sliders, #alerts based on simple #form #validation and such, then yes! As far as we know these things should be a part of #HTML #forms moving forward.
@brombek
> I bet that if browsers natively implemented top handful of ethical use cases for JS most websites would not need any scripts to work.
Most websites don't need JS to work already. But they use it anyway.
I suspect because most web developers are self-taught, and mimic each others' (anti-)patterns, so they don't have to understand the various black boxes they plug together. As long as the paying client is happy ...
@brombek
We like your last couple paragraphs, but not sure we agree with the first two.
Yes, it would be good to have some basic dynamic features added to #HTML but whenever we ask why, we are at a loss.
#Flexbox, image 'sets' for dynamically selecting content based on #screenResolution and/or window sizes, css animations etc are all great. The checkbox hack one good way to achieve show/hide but yes, it is a hack.
@strypey @alcinnz