bug(a11y): Mobile navigation menu is non-functional when JavaScript is disabled
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- Dominant language
- HTML
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Description
Problem
When JavaScript is disabled, the primary header navigation on https://owasp.org/
becomes inaccessible. This results in a broken mobile navigation experience and
forces users to rely on footer links only.
This behavior breaks progressive enhancement principles and impacts accessibility,
particularly WCAG 2.1 Principle 4 (Robustness).
#Steps to Reproduce
- Open https://owasp.org/
- Disable JavaScript (Chrome DevTools → Settings → Disable JavaScript)
- Refresh the page
- Switch to a mobile viewport
#Actual Behavior
- Hamburger menu icon is visible but does not respond to clicks
- Primary navigation links (Chapters, Events, About) are hidden
- Search input is visible but non-functional
- Users must scroll to the footer to access navigation links
Expected Behavior
- Core navigation should be accessible without JavaScript
- Navigation should degrade gracefully when JS is unavailable
- Site should follow progressive enhancement principles
Suggested Improvement
- Provide a non-JS fallback navigation (e.g., visible list or CSS-only toggle)
- Ensure critical navigation is not JS-only
- Improve robustness for low-bandwidth or restricted environments
Environment
- Browser: Chrome / Chromium
- Condition: JavaScript disabled via DevTools
Screenshots
Related to: OWASP/www-committee-project#ISSUE_NUMBER
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start at https://owasp.org/ and reproduce the issue with JavaScript disabled in a mobile viewport, then locate the primary header navigation implementation. Done means Chapters, Events, About, and search remain usable without JavaScript and the mobile navigation degrades gracefully.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- html, javascript
- Domain
- accessibility, frontend, web-dev
- Issue type
- Bug
- Difficulty
- 3/5
- Estimated time
- 1-2 days
- Activity status
- Stale
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 42/100