Google now requires JavaScript

I hate how these kinds of messages never explain WHY. It's just "Do it. Do what we tell you." 💀

Google is no longer a Search Engine. It is a commerce/purchase search. It's nothing more than ads and corporate results to purchase goods & services. Google Shopping has taken over Google.

I know this may come off as a surprise: but I imagine that requiring JS in 2024 isn't a big deal to most people.

Now of course Lemmy skews more into that small crowd.

I don't blame any website for requiring JS for full functionality in 2024.

DuckDuckGo doesn't ;)

By the way, in my browser, the title of this post shows up as

Google now requires Javascript in c/mildlyinfuriating

which shocked me a little.

Who still uses Google? DDG has been way better for a long while now. Join the duck side.

Yep. I use Noscript and DDG Lite by default. Just putting into duckduckgo: !g <your search goes here> will search google without having to turn JS on...looks like Duckduckgo wins again, even when it comes to using google, lol.

Just use SearXNG.

I like the SearX search engine. It gives old-school, relevant search results, not google ranked ones.

https://search.inetol.net/

It's also spread out over many separate instances, so you can pick the one that best suits your search needs:

https://searx.space/

Who uses the internet without JavaScript? Must have so many broken websites

I might be out of my depth here, but isn't like virtually the entire internet powered by Javascript? What are the negative implications for Google requiring JS?

Use LibreX or a fork called LibreY, it's a JS-free proxy for Google search

There's a list of instances at https://librey.org/instances.php

Something similar exists for DuckDuckGo btw, it's called 4get

Or you can just use SearXNG, a meta search engine that aggregates results from multiple sources

No offense intended, but why are you still using Google? Startpage has anonyomized results from Google. DuckDuckGo is good enough for most people as well. Brave search also exists if you don't mind supporting that shitty company.

why are you using google in 2024 grandpa

There are so many alternatives

I've been happy with Qwant lately, they have their own index so using them doesn't support the Google + Bing hegemony. They're also EU based and regulated by the gdpr.

lol. nope. not happening. that's not how to get me to even think about using your search again (having quit over a decade ago).

AFAIK Startpage gives you google results with your privacy intact and less ads.

they def wanna maximize data collection with javascript

I just disabled Javascript and Google still works fine. It might be only Google's mobile site that requires it.

These are also just fun:

• Wilby
• The Useless Web
• Marginalia Search

I also use Mojeek when I want a (serious) different set of results that I'm not getting from those pulling from google, bing, etc. It's not the best but it's getting better over time.

Switch to Kagi

Can't tell if because of spyware or because the poor intern they hired to maintain the site for the next month only knows JS frontends lol

If you ever need a search engine without JavaScript or https, give http://frogfind.com/ a try. Works great on ancient browsers and operating systems.

As a former web dev, good. I didn't get paid enough to care about the people that block JavaScript

Oof ouch my Lynx.

Oh well, there's always DDG and friends.

Btw it’s possible to fingerprint people with JavaScript disabled. I found this article explaining and demonstrating if you’re curious.