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JavaScript @ Web Programming
Programming Shed : Programmer Store & Resources |
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JavaScript Index - JavaScript Book :
DHTML and JavaScript
by Gilorien Paperback: 1142 pages Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR ISBN: 0130863343; 1st edition (September 10, 1999) DHTML & JavaScript offers plenty of instruction on using DHTML features as implemented in Netscape's Navigator 4+ browsers. This book contains a wealth of information about style sheets and other elements of Dynamic HTML; however, readers should be forewarned that there is no mention of Microsoft Internet Explorer compatibility whatsoever. The title features dual coverage of the cascading style sheets syntax and JavaScript syntax implementations of DHTML. It delves deeply into the added features of JavaScript 1.2 and covers the changes presented with JavaScript 1.3. The first part of the book focuses on style and layer implementation, while the subsequent parts go into the aforementioned JavaScript dialects. The material is presented with text that's easy to understand; however, the book's formatting is a bit distracting. The author uses unusually prominent headings and excessively underlines text. Loads of code samples illustrate all of the concepts, and charts summarize the language syntax, properties, and events. The accompanying CD-ROM provides the book's content in HTML and Adobe Acrobat formats as well as supplemental documents such as Netscape guides. Although this book's presentation is rather unconventional, its excellent code examples and detailed index make it great as an everyday how-to reference. Book Info: Designed to guide the reader in developing web sites that can use the new features and capabilities for using Style Sheets and Layers in both Cascading Style Sheet Syntax and JavaScript Syntax reflected in Netscape's Navigator 4.0+ browser. Softcover. CD-ROM included. DLC: DHTML (Document markup language). From the Inside Flap Preface This book is designed to guide the reader in developing web sites that can use the new features and capabilities for using Style Sheets and Layers in both Cascading Style Sheet Syntax and JavaScript Syntax that are reflected in Netscape's Navigator 4.0+ browser. Additionally, it covers all of the new abilities of JavaScript 1.2 and including the Layer Object and advanced Event Handling for capturing Events and using them to dynamically alter the appearance and content of documents. There is also a chapter devoted to the new functionality of JavaScript 1.3 and changes from version 1.2. If you are a complete beginner, then check out Appendix A in Part IV which will introduce you to all of the basics for using HTML Elements to design your web pages including Images, Area Maps, Tables, Frames, Forms, and Embedded Objects for advanced content like VRML, QTVR, QD3D, and Audio files. Appendix A contains a truncated version of the HTML Elements Primer but there is a much more complete version on the CD-ROM, in both HTML and PDF formats. Both of these online versions have about 100 additional examples that are linked to the documentation from separate files. If you are already deep into web site design, then Appendix A can serve as a reference when you need a quick memory fix. Part I covers Styles and Layers. It starts with an introduction to using Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) Syntax and the Properties that are used to define Styles for your Elements. Chapter 2 demonstrates how to position Layers, which are Blocks of Content and introduces additional Properties associated with Layers. Chapter 3 moves on to Style Sheets created with JavaScript Syntax, focusing on using JavaScript to manipulate Layers in real-world examples. The Layer Object in JavaScript is new and has many Properties and Methods that facilitate the manipulation of Layers both programmatically and dynamically from user input. Many of the Methods and Properties of other JavaScript Objects which can enhance this process are covered in both theory and in Sample Listings which are both in the book and in separate files on the CD-ROM for you to run. Generally speaking, you can digest a concept faster if you run the examples in a browser. Part II covers all the vast array of new features of JavaScript 1.2 and changes to previous Object functionality. There are new Statements to consider and many Objects that required Constructor Functions can now be created with Literal Notation. String Objects, Array Objects and Event Objects have been massively enhanced with a plethora of new Properties and Methods. There is a new RegExp Object which uses Regular Expressions to perform pattern matches in text searches that opens up a whole new range of possibilities. Additionally, Part II covers many of the essential tools for using JavaScript such as basic and advanced Object Theory, Statements and Operators, Functions, Methods, Expressions, Variables and Properties. Part III covers the new features and minor changes to JavaScript 1.3. Version 1.2 is a major upgrade but version 1.3 is not. However, one really useful feature of 1.3 is the JavaScript Console that you can use to debug your code from Navigator/Communicator. Most of the examples in this book will require that you use the Navigator 4.0 version of the browser and make sure that you have JavaScript enabled in the Preferences dialogue box. This book follows the standard conventions of using a fixed-width font (Courier or Geneva) for displaying HTML and JavaScript code except when it occurs in the context of a normal paragraph. In that circumstance, the code is displayed with a bold font. Usually HTML code is displayed in allcaps and JavaScript is either all lowercase or interCap. Appendix E in Part IV consists of a group of charts that contain a lot of condensed information that can serve as Syntax references. These charts are all in a file named: Charts.pdf on the CD-ROM. It is suggested that you print out the whole file for use while you are learning the book and even more importantly for when you are writing your own code. In summary, this book thoroughly covers CSS Style Sheets and JavaScript Style Sheets in theory and by example, along with all of the new features of JavaScript versions 1.2 and 1.3. It also serves as a Syntax Reference for these topics. Most importantly, after learning the theory, this book demonstrates how to effectively integrate JavaScript with DHTML to create innovative and advanced web sites. Finally, this book is heavily focused on examples as a learning mechanism; there are over 400 working examples in the book and even more on the CD-ROM. About the Author: Gilorien is a freelance artist in both the 2D and 3D realms, a 3D animator, musician and advanced website designer and consultant. His company, DreamPlay Studios, provides content and consulting for a variety of projects and is currently working on a full-length animation film that is being created exclusively in the 3D digital realm. Still images of his art, along with excerpts of music from his 2 CDs, can be seen/heard and purchased at: erols/gilorien Contact him at: gilorien@erols About the CD-ROM: All of the more than 400 examples in the book have an associated BBEdit HTML Sample file on the CD-ROM in the folder named DHTML-JS_BOOK-Main_Files. Each of these files starts with the word "Sample" and are intended to be run on the Netscape Navigator/Communicator browser. You can also check out the source code for copying/pasting or alteration in any text editor. If you work on a Macintosh, you might want to get the BBEdit text editor from Bare Bones Software, which is specifically designed to work with HTML and other types of coding. See the last two pages of the book, after the Index, for more information about the contents of the CD-ROM. From the Back Cover: Make the most of Netscape JavaScript 1.2/1.3 and DHTML! Master the awesome Web power of DHTML, style sheets, and Netscape JavaScript 1.2/1.3! DHTML and JavaScript delivers all you need. It's a complete task-oriented tutorial, a detailed reference to JavaScript syntax, and a library of 400+ working examples that shows exactly how to build innovative Web sites with Netscape's hottest technologies. Coverage includes: • Cascading Style Sheets, JavaScript Style Sheets, Layers, and extensive coverage on how to control them all with JavaScript. • JavaScript object theory, statements, operators, functions, methods, expressions, variables, and properties. • Demystifies the Document Object Model DOM. • The new JavaScript Layer Object: key concepts and real-world sample code. • In-depth Event Object coverage and implementation. • Pattern matching with the new RegExp Object. • Arrays, window, document, screen, navigator, Math, Date, and String Objects. • Learn how to design your own online games with image-dragging or keyboard control. • JavaScript 1.3's new JavaScript console and other enhancements. Hands-on and comprehensive, DHTML and JavaScript lets you break through Web clutter -- and create the great-looking, top-performing sites you've always wanted to build! The accompanying CD-ROM contains all of the working examples from the book and two hyper-linked versions of the book, which include a more extensive HTML Elements Primer, in both HTML and PDF formats, with 100+ bonus code examples! It even has an eleven-minute song from the author's first album. About the Author: GILORIEN is a freelance artist in both the 2D and 3D realm, a 3D animator, musician, and advanced Web site designer and consultant. His company, DreamPlay Studios, provides content and consulting for a wide variety of projects, and is currently working on a full-length 3D digital animated film. Customer Reviews Where's the beef?, July 3, 2000 Reviewer: Ray C. Freeman III from Seattle, WA USA Although this book does contain a reasonable reference to CSS and JavaScript (as implemented by Netscape ONLY), the information is well hidden in this verbose and sometimes misleading if not ocassionally inaccurate volume. The author introduces most topics with descriptions of their syntax, usually failing to get to what the darned things (layers, for example) are actually used for until well into the chapter, by dropping it casually somewhere. I have read hundreds of technical books, and this is by far the most bizarre to date. The author often apologizes that this stuff is (sic) "kinda tricky", but assures you that if you look at the sample code closely you will get idea. I see. Thank god I didn't buy it, March 7, 2002 Reviewer: wdexter from Darien, IL USA I didn't actually buy this book, thank god; I got it from the local public library. This has to be one of the most disorienting books I've ever tried to read. The first chapter dives right into syntax, with no explanation of what the stuff being talked about actually *means*. I've only made it a few pages in, and am just going to return it, because flipping through it makes me realize that the rest of it is like this as well. This may be an excellent book for the experienced user of this technology who needs a reference; unfortunately, that is not what I wanted. High Hopes, January 25, 2002 Reviewer: Brandon Parker from Andover, KS, USA This book has a lot of examples. So many that most people would not use all of them for 5 different webpages. The only problem is it is not user friendly. Good for someone who knows the language, but NOT reccommended for a person trying to learn the language. Horribly written book, October 5, 2001 Reviewer: Mark Chien from Austin, TX I purchased this book and in the first few days of actually reading it, I found that it contained very little information about how and why to use DHTML. Sure it had a good reference but without context, this book is completely useless. As soon as you open the book to read it, you realize at how poorly it was written. The book gave no context and you really have no idea what the technology is or what its used for. Definitely not recommended. |
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