The page where TotalEdit can be downloaded at the CoderTools.com web site sports an HTML hyperlink in case javascript doesn't work. However, to get there, the visitor must enable javascript...
We wanted to download the latest version of our favourite source editing tool: TotalEdit by CoderTools.
We know this tool shares a download address with other downloadables over at the CoderTools.com web site. Once we get to the actual product download page we see that it features a perfectly good HTML hyperlink, in case the automatic download won't start... which usually happens when javascript is disabled or automatic redirects are prevented, a trivial task in the better browsers.
They know about direct download links (30KB)
However... to get there we must first visit their downloads page and activate an HTML form. How can we activate that form? Only by having Javascript enabled. For the hyperlinks that we see, aren't really hyperlinks at all. Instead, they're javascripted look-alikes, that refuse to behave like hyperlinks. Without javascript, they do nothing.
Download page for CoderTools (49KB)
This is a typical problem that first showed up years ago with the advent of javascript: javascript substituting the regular workings of HTML. HTML already has perfectly good hyperlinks and has had them since its invention by Tim Berners Lee; replacing them with javascripted look-alikes not only takes more time and money, but also presents the visitor with an extra obstacle. Using Visual Studio as your tool to create an ASP.Net web site (like CoderTools.com) does not alleviate you of the responsibility to think about the problems you present to your visitors.
Now mind you, that TotalEdit is a free tool. No payment is required. However, CoderTools is a commercial company, and does want to impress you with its tools, and does want to sell you their tools. But for some reason, they don't want you to download their free tools... they deny the download if your browser has javascript disabled.
Therefore, their web site deserves a failure note in the category:
"Your Money Isn't Good Enough"
Nope, we refuse to accept your money: we only accept payment from people who have javascript enabled.
And when you think: let's look at the source code for this download page, and let's recreate the request and query it by hand, we get the following address:
download.aspx?__EVENTTARGET=ctl00$MainSection$lbtnTotalEdit
When queried, this results in a huge ASP.Net error message, because it knows this query isn't allowed, but does not know what to do about it:
ASP.Net Error Message for invalid query (44KB)
Next step
We're going to contact CoderTools (they do supply contact information) and inform them about this problem.
We know this tool shares a download address with other downloadables over at the CoderTools.com web site. Once we get to the actual product download page we see that it features a perfectly good HTML hyperlink, in case the automatic download won't start... which usually happens when javascript is disabled or automatic redirects are prevented, a trivial task in the better browsers.
They know about direct download links (30KB)
However... to get there we must first visit their downloads page and activate an HTML form. How can we activate that form? Only by having Javascript enabled. For the hyperlinks that we see, aren't really hyperlinks at all. Instead, they're javascripted look-alikes, that refuse to behave like hyperlinks. Without javascript, they do nothing.
Download page for CoderTools (49KB)
This is a typical problem that first showed up years ago with the advent of javascript: javascript substituting the regular workings of HTML. HTML already has perfectly good hyperlinks and has had them since its invention by Tim Berners Lee; replacing them with javascripted look-alikes not only takes more time and money, but also presents the visitor with an extra obstacle. Using Visual Studio as your tool to create an ASP.Net web site (like CoderTools.com) does not alleviate you of the responsibility to think about the problems you present to your visitors.
Now mind you, that TotalEdit is a free tool. No payment is required. However, CoderTools is a commercial company, and does want to impress you with its tools, and does want to sell you their tools. But for some reason, they don't want you to download their free tools... they deny the download if your browser has javascript disabled.
Therefore, their web site deserves a failure note in the category:
"Your Money Isn't Good Enough"
Nope, we refuse to accept your money: we only accept payment from people who have javascript enabled.
And when you think: let's look at the source code for this download page, and let's recreate the request and query it by hand, we get the following address:
download.aspx?__EVENTTARGET=ctl00$MainSection$lbtnTotalEdit
When queried, this results in a huge ASP.Net error message, because it knows this query isn't allowed, but does not know what to do about it:
ASP.Net Error Message for invalid query (44KB)
Next step
We're going to contact CoderTools (they do supply contact information) and inform them about this problem.
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