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
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@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
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.
@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 @dsfgs @strypey One thing I missing from that site: an example of using <details> for creating collapsable sections.
It's an even easier to create accordians!