What Is JavaScript and How Do You Use It?

The World Wide Web as we know it does not resemble the early days of grey boxes and text walls. We can’t imagine surfing the web without interactive websites, clickable buttons, and online video games these days. The way we interact with the internet has shifted dramatically over the years, and it’s all thanks to JavaScript. 

Let’s take a closer look at what JavaScript is and what it does for your website.

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JavaScript? What Is That?

JavaScript is a widely used programming language. It is the world’s second most popular coding language. JavaScript is clearly an important part of our daily online lives. But what exactly is JavaScript and how can you use it?

JavaScript, along with HTML and CSS, is one of the three core components of the internet. Any website you visit will almost certainly use a combination of these three programming languages, each serving a specific purpose. Let’s take a closer look at them.

HyperText Markup Language (HTML):

This is the fundamental programming language that underpins all websites. It gives you the ability to create content, place it on a page, and link to other pages.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets):

CSS is a scripting language that allows you to design the content of your website. It is in charge of text styling, colors, fonts, and so on.

JavaScript (JS)

allows you to make your website interactive. It makes all of the content you created with HTML and styled with CSS more engaging. JavaScript is what transforms your website from a wall of text into an experience, from clickable buttons to log-in options.

 

What Is the Purpose of JavaScript?

JavaScript would not be a programming industry standard if it was only about pressing buttons. JavaScript’s practical applications are nearly limitless, but we’ve highlighted some of the most common ones below.

Websites that are interactive

JavaScript is most likely used wherever a user interacts with something on a website. Among the many things JavaScript can help with are:

• Drop-down menus to assist your users in making the best decision;
• Scroll through engaging content with image carousels;
• Animations to spice things up;
• Audio and video are available with the click of a button;
• Pop-ups that keep your visitors engaged;
• Chat widgets that allow your users to contact you;

What is the impact of JavaScript on site performance and why is it important?

It is critical to strike a balance between interactivity and site performance when using JavaScript.

To maximize performance, some websites are completely removing JavaScript from their mobile websites.

Reasons:
First and foremost, site performance has a significant impact on your online user experience.
Second, Google closely monitors page experience, and improving your site’s performance may have an impact on your rankings.

USER EXPERIENCE

It may be entertaining to bring your page into the future with gadgets and gizmos, but overloading your website with JavaScript add-ons may result in loading times that will make your users think they’re back in the dial-up modem era.

Nobody enjoys waiting, especially when it involves the internet. If your site takes too long to load, users will become frustrated and turn to your competitors.

While almost everyone enjoys some interaction on their website, keep it relevant. You probably don’t want a minigame to appear while you’re doing your online banking, and you certainly don’t want to be distracted by animations while looking up medical information. Context is essential.

Google Rankings

Of course, there is no magic bullet for improving your Google rankings, but one thing you should never overlook is the quality of your page experience. That means you’ll need to keep an eye on your Core Web Vitals and make sure your JavaScript isn’t causing your page to load slowly.

To begin, you can use our powerful Site Audit tool to ensure that your website strikes a balance between interaction and performance. In fact, our Site Audit can perform over 120 different checks, providing actionable insights to help you improve page speed immediately.