JavaScript Design [Paperback]

William B. Sanders (Author), Bill Sanders (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 12, 2001

JavaScript Design shows designers how to create interactive JavaScript applications for the web. It provides detailed descriptions of JavaScript structures, statements and objects, using JavaScript to create different elements of a web page,controlling a page's overall design and function with JavaScript, passing data and variables between clients and servers. Also covered are advanced topics server-side languages: PHP, Perl, ASP, CGI, XML, connections to Java and Cold Fusion. The line between developers and designers is fading. Designers are challenged with projects that require them to have a strong knowledge of the server side issues traditionally fielded by a web developer. Designers are looking for books that teach them the web developer knowledge in a language in which they are accustomed.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

JavaScript Design shows designers how to create interactive JavaScript applications for the web. It provides detailed descriptions of JavaScript structures, statements and objects, using JavaScript to create different elements of a web page,controlling a page's overall design and function with JavaScript, passing data and variables between clients and servers. Also covered are advanced topics server-side languages: PHP, Perl, ASP, CGI, XML, connections to Java and Cold Fusion. The line between developers and designers is fading. Designers are challenged with projects that require them to have a strong knowledge of the server side issues traditionally fielded by a web developer. Designers are looking for books that teach them the web developer knowledge in a language in which they are accustomed.

About the Author

Dr. William B. Sanders is a professor in the Interactive Information Technology program at the University of Hartford. The program is designed to develop students who will work in collaborative environments using the Internet and the World Wide Web and develop digital communicative technologies. Bill has written more than 35 computer-related books, with the goal of translating technology to a wide interest base. To mangle a phrase from Will Rogers, he never met a computer or computer language that he didn't like.

Like the revolution spawned by personal computers, the Internet and the World Wide Web have spawned another. The new languages and applications required to master and effectively use Internet technologies have been a focal interest of Bill's since the web's inception. He has been focused on languages such as JavaScript, PHP, ASP, XML, ActionScript, MySQL, and a host of other web-based programs and applications. However, instead of looking at the new technologies solely as a cool way to make things happen on the web, Bill has been involved with different aspects of e-business and e-commerce, bridging the digital divide in communities and generally looking at ways in which the Internet and the web serve as a lively linkage between people and their aspirations.

As a source of information and understanding, the web is unparalleled, but it is also an arena to explore new art forms and ways of human expression. Bill has sought out design concepts from Edward Tufte's work on information, Hillman Curtis's work on motion design, and David Siegel's work on third-generation web sites. For Bill, each new development in creativity, technology, and communication is an opportunity to see the world in a new light and expand horizons.

His hobbies include travel, Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs, and life with his wife, Delia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 600 pages
• Publisher: New Riders Press; 1 edition (December 12, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735711674
• ISBN-13: 978-0735711679
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,450,788 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Overpriced, too thin and lacking in depth, December 27, 2002

By 

Patrick Thompson (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: JavaScript Design (Paperback)

This is an excellent book for introductory JavaScript...right up to the point where some depth is required (event handling and the DOM). WHile there are many script provided, which virtually all work, they become convoluted and suffer from a lack of clarification and purpose. Often times, the author places something into a script- to show a different way of doing it, which is great- however an explanation is required. As is a much greater explanation of the DOM.

I was disappointed with this book because of the price and the content. No CD means lots of typing!

Altogether a shallow book with admirable traits but not enough execution where it counts: at the business end of things. As for the word 'design' in the title, there is little of that, in the true sence of the word. Next edition??

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just what I needed, January 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: JavaScript Design (Paperback)

I'm not a programmer, and while I've done a good deal of work with HTML and Web design (mainly with Dreamweaver), learning JavaScript is my first venture into programming. The book starts off with some simple and not so simple examples. The not-so-simple examples are practical tools that I could actually do something with (a decimal to hexadecimal conversion script so I can take decimal RBG values and have them automatically translated into a six-character color hexadecimal value.) After the introductory chapter the book gets down to business with what you have to know to work effectively with JavaScript. The writing is clear and it explains how things work. Nothing is dumbed down and nothing is left out. However, it doesn't talk in the engineering language of some programming books I looked at.

The explanations are clear and most are accompanied by examples embedded in HTML. It's a two-color book, and the JavaScript stands out in the second color (red) so that it's easy to see where the JavaScript is in the HTML. All of the examples work, and while I'm putting off the chapters on the back-end (PHP, CGI, etc) I hope to learn how to use the backend eventually with JavaScript.

It's the kind of book I can look up what I need easily. The example glossary in the back is very simple to follow, and each of the JavaScript terms has an example of how the code looks. New Riders and the author have all of the book's scripts on their Web pages and I downloaded them to save some typing.

This is the kind of book I wish more publishers would print. It's not overly simplified, but it is clear and easy to follow. At the same time it is definitly complete so that I don't have to go out and buy another JavaScript book as soon as I'm finished with this one. This is a keeper and I'm very happy with it.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars JavaScript Bridge, January 25, 2002

By 

Jane Edwards (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: JavaScript Design (Paperback)

This book worked for me, and I think I know why. First of all, anyone who writes book on JavaScript takes a huge risk. Either the author tries to say everything and gets tangled up, or it's a gimmick book. This book is neither. The author tries to stick to the EMCA standards, which I believe is laudable. If the browsers did the same thing, we'd all be better off. So no matter who writes such a book, something is going to be left out, and this book leaves out the browser-idiosyncratic nonsense and sticks to the standards.

Second, the book bridges HTML with the back end. As a designer, I get clients who want something done with the forms in HTML. JavaScript can handle a lot of the variable manipulation through forms, but let's face it, until it links up to a database, you've got bupkis. This book bridges that gap with several middleware examples, and introduced me (thankfully) to PHP. The book has enough for me to get something that actually works with a database and middleware. I went out and bought a book on PHP and MySQL (as the author recommends), but this book gave me a working start on middleware and using databases, and I know of no other JavaScript book that does this. Also, I plunked down the princely sum of about [...] for a hosting service with PHP and MySQL. All of the software for PHP/MySQL/Apache Server is free, but use a hosting service to learn how to use it.

As far as the readability, it's clear as a bell, but it does go from the simple to the complex as the material gets more complex. I downloaded the sample chapter from www.newriders.com before I bought the book. It tackles JavaScript 1.5 so it's up to date, and I liked the example glossary. It's the kind of book (for me at least) that you read what you need and then look up stuff in. I feel I got a complete JavaScript book with the added bonus of the middleware/back-end.