1.4 KiB
2. NOSCRIPT nodes
Date: 2020-04-16
Status
Accepted
Context
HTML pages sometimes contain NOSCRIPT nodes, which reveal their contents only in case when JavaScript is not available. Most of the time they contain hidden messages that inform about certain JavaScript-dependent features not being operational, however sometimes can also feature media assets or even iframes.
Decision
When the document is being saved with or without JavaScript, each NOSCRIPT node should be preserved while its children need to be processed exactly the same way as the rest of the document. This approach will ensure that even hidden remote assets are embedded — since those hidden elements may have to be displayed later in a browser that has JavaScript turned off. An option should be available to "unwrap" all NOSCRIPT nodes in order to make their contents always visible in the document, complimenting the "disable JS" function of the program.
Consequences
Saved documents will have contents of all NOSCRIPT nodes processed as if they are part of the document's DOM, therefore properly display images encapsulated within NOSCRIPT nodes when being viewed in browsers that have JavaScript turned off (or have no JavaScript support in the first place). The new option to "unwrap" NOSCRIPT elements will help the user ensure that the resulting document always represents what the original web page looked like in a browser that had JavaScript turned off.