JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook: Solutions and Examples for Web Programmers

Product Description

In today's Web 2.0 world, JavaScript and Dynamic HTML are at the center of the hot new approach to designing highly interactive pages on the client side. With this environment in mind, the new edition of this book offers bite-sized solutions to very specific scripting problems that web developers commonly face. Each recipe includes a focused piece of code that you can insert right into your application.

Why is JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook so popular? After reading thousands of forum threads over the years, author and scripting pioneer Danny Goodman has compiled a list of problems that frequently vex scripters of various experience levels. For every problem he addresses, Goodman not only offers code, but a discussion of how and why the solution works. Recipes range from simple tasks, such as manipulating strings and validating dates in JavaScript, to entire libraries that demonstrate complex tasks, such as cross-browser positioning of HTML elements, sorting tables, and implementing Ajax features on the client.

Ideal for novices as well as experienced scripters, this book contains more than 150 recipes for:

* Working with interactive forms and style sheets
* Presenting user-friendly page navigation
* Creating dynamic content via Document Object Model scripting
* Producing visual effects for stationary content
* Positioning HTML elements
* Working with XML data in the browser

Recipes in this Cookbook are compatible with the latest W3C standards and browsers, including Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2, Safari, and Opera 9. Several new recipes provide client-side Ajax solutions, and many recipes from the previous edition have been revised to help you build extensible user interfaces for Web 2.0 applications. If you want to write your own scripts and understand how they work, rather than rely on a commercial web development framework, the JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook is a must.

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #41424 in Books
* Published on: 2007-08-08
* Format: Illustrated
* Original language: English
* Number of items: 1
* Binding: Paperback
* 604 pages

Editorial Reviews

Review
"...does for web scripting and dynamic HTML what the best cookbooks do for food...The best cookbooks distil the wisdom of an experienced and skilled master - and this is precisely what Danny Goodman does here. " TechBook Report

About the Author
Danny Goodman has been writing about personal computers and consumer electronics since the late 1970s. A freelance writer and programmer, he's published hundreds of magazine articles, several commercial software products, and three dozen computer books. His most popular book titles -- on HyperCard, AppleScript, JavaScript, and Dynamic HTML -- have covered programming environments that are both accessible to non-professionals yet powerful enough to engage experts. His "JavaScript Bible" (Wiley) book is now in its fifth edition. Danny is also a programming consultant to some of the industry's top intranet development groups and corporations.
Customer Reviews

Not what I thought it would be.2
The book doesn't go in-depth in it's explainations. It is written more for the seasoned script writer and not the beginner. I found it very confusing and not enough detail to be of any use to me. I preferred "Javascript, Demystified".

A Good Book to Learn The Basics4
Like most web developers, I typically will reach for one of the many JS libraries when it comes time to add client-side enhancements to my web applications. This is usually the obvious choice for the sake of saving time on projects, and keeping costs down... but quite often, many libraries are simply overkill for a simple little js/dhtml enhancement.

As such, that is what lead me to this book. I was hoping the cookbook format would give me some fresh ideas on doing some simple js/dhtml work and it most definitively delivered.

Perhaps the most valuable parts of this book for me were the aspects of working on the DOM. Additionally, I always enjoy reading different techniques for dealing with client-side form validation.

To me the coverage on loading dynamic data/ajax was good, but I still think that when entering into that realm of JS, it is usually time to deploy one of the libraries I mentioned earlier.

All in all this has become a valuable resource that I often refer to during my daily work.

Great book5
I really like this book. The format of each technique demonstrated is

Problem- Solution- Discussion

The nice thing is that you can get a quick explanation from the solution, and a more in depth response in the discussion. The author presents complete code which is easily built upon and customized.

I knew a bit of Javascript when I started, but I think this would be an excellent book even for a complete beginner.