My question concerns Google Web Toolkit (GWT). I’m about to begin development for a project that will reside on an Intranet where some users may have JavaScript disabled. After seeing what GWT has done for Google Wave I’ve been very interested in learning and applying it to this new project, but if it isn’t accessible to those users then I don’t think I’ll be able to use it. I noticed that the example applications on the GWT website don’t work at all with JavaScript disabled. So, can GWT be used in a way where content and functionality is still accessible to users with JavaScript disabled? If not, wouldn’t this be a massive oversight by Google?
If it’s of any use, this project will be using Spring MVC 3.0 with Hibernate and JPA.
The whole problem that GWT solves is JavaScript and AJAX programming. If you aren’t targeting browsers that have that enabled, then GWT is not for your project. I wouldn’t say its an oversight at all. Developing a framework that would leave JavaScript optional would either be very lowest common denominator, or very frustrating, as many features would have to be noted as requiring JavaScript.