I've come across a number of conflicting opinions when it comes to where Javascript belongs in the website production workflow. Personally, I find working with Javascript both infuriating and rewarding, but is it a developer's job, or is it a design thing?
At first, I thought it was a web developer's responsibility. Afterall, it's a scripting language, right? It involves writing code in order to extend a webpage with some kind of logical intelligence. A web designer, on the other hand uses markup; an instructional language describing the contents of a page to a web browser, with no inherent perception or decision-making capabilities. This seems to make sense, but there is another way of looking at it.
In Defining Web Designer 2.0, I looked at the myriad roles of the new breed of web designer, one of which was that of Interaction Design. As Javascript matures - or should I say the application of Javascript matures - it's becoming more an integral part of an Interaction Designer's usability toolkit. Whether it's providing client-side form validation or visual feedback for a subtle AJAX call, Javascript is very much a part of the User Experience.
Unlike server-side languages such as PHP or Ruby, the quality and application of Javascript code has a direct effect on a user's experience. And I believe it's this subtle qualitative aspect of Javascript that separates it from the rest of a web developer's toolkit.
I know a few designers who would go as white as a sheet, faced with the prospect of owning Javascript development, but I believe that if a designer is to create inspired user experiences, they should have a thorough understanding of the tools at their disposal, and that includes Javascript.
