Dynamic HTML: The HTML Developer's Guide (Paperback)

by Jeff Rule (Author)
Key Phrases: pfr file, timeline script, sequencing object, Internet Explorer, Action Set, Netscape Communicator (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
This brief guide to Dynamic HTML (DHTML) focuses on what you can do with DHTML rather than the history and evolution of markup languages. Author Jeff Rule has compiled his knowledge from his work on the Discovery Channel Online site into a quick reference that lists ways to spice up your Web pages.

The book begins with a very quick overview of the various technologies and standards that comprise DHTML and a peek at the Netscape, Microsoft, and World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Document Object Models. Rule then explains cascading style sheets (CSS), with a welcome focus on how they work in today's browsers. The book continues with a series of chapters devoted to the various tricks you can perform with DHTML: navigation effects, transitions and filters, resizing graphics, and pull-down and pop-up menus. Throughout these chapters, the author provides links to example Web sites, including his own comprehensive site.

Animations, drag and drop, timelines, and sequencing are also covered with a balanced discussion of the Netscape and Microsoft approaches to each. The author then devotes a chapter to the ActiveX multimedia controls in Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 and another to the sticky issue of font management. The book concludes with explanations of how to utilize push technology, a preview of the version 5 browsers, and thoughts on the future direction of the Web. If you want to skip the lengthy tutorials and dive right into DHTML, this is the book for you. --Stephen W Plain

From Library Journal
This is the fun part of HTML as you can do amazing things with it and you don't need to download a plugin as you do for Shockwave Flash or Director from Macromedia. In this small but well-written guide, Rule covers all the basics and deals well with technical limitations and browser differences. Rule's well-maintained web site (www.ruleweb.com/dhtml) illustrates what he is describing in his book. Recommended for all collections.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (December 12, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201379619
• ISBN-13: 978-0201379617
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,435,688 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars One to avoid, October 28, 1999

By	Mr. R. Horberry - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After seeing all the five star reviews I thought this must be the book I needed - how wrong I was. I'm a seasoned web developer needing a really chunky tutorial on DHTML, and this book ain't it. Jeff kicks off with a general intro to CSS and the DOM - ok but not brilliant, better info exist on the web. Then things go downhill. All his DHTML applications are mundane at best (image rollovers, weedy pull downs) or downright obscure at worst (MS channels). Code is NOT explained line by line and you are not left with the feeling you can do it yourself. As long as you want to add Jeff's example into your pages then you're golden, if you want to learn the underlying principles and then develop your own stuff...forget it! And despite the blurb it ain't cross platform, its two scripts and some detect. Shame on you.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The clearest and most elegant Guide I have yet seen to DHTML, June 23, 1999

By	Philip Stott ([e-mail]) (London, UK) - See all my reviews

I cannot speak too highly of this book, nor of its accompanying Web Site. I run my own Web Site and, although an amateur, I found HTML and JavaScript reasonably manageable. I confess, however, that I baulked at moving on to DHTML for 4- and 5-level Browsers. It all seemed just too daunting - until I discovered Jeff Rule's excellent 'Dynamic HTML'.

The book is beautifully presented and written, and, unlike so many computer and internet textbooks, avoids jargon and that ever-so irritating teenage juvenile style! Moreover, I found it all accessible, and the concepts are built up slowly and sensibly. A key feature is the careful dissection of the Scripts as you move along.

The book is absolutely superb on cross-browser and platform problems between Netscape and Internet Explorer (which are too often ignored by Web Masters) and this make the Scripting highly practical. I also found the Scripts to be of genuine value and not just 'nerdy' inventions, especially those dealing with animations, drag and drop, transitions, filters, and menus.

The publishers are also to be congratulated on producing a clean, unfussy, adult text, with a simple use of bold and tables. There is a helpful Glossary and two final Chapters on 'The Future' and 'Dynamic HTML Authoring Tools', such as 'Dreamweaver'.

All in all, therefore, a model text. The supporting Web Site is just as helpful and is likewise highly recommended. And it all works! Not an Alert anywhere!

Thanks to Mr. Rule for a book which genuinely helps the amateur Web Page designer, but doesn't insult her/his intelligence.

Philip Stott, London, UK

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars jeff rule needs to read a web site maintenance 101 book, October 21, 1999

By A Customer

having already posted, the further i get in this book, the more angry i become. if you're gonna write a book in which your readers will have to rely on your web site to get through, it helps to keep the site functioning. if there was an option i would give this book a zero. the web site is so bad. check this out: the page i went to get an example of a mouseover goes to a menu page with buttons leading to different areas of the site having nothing to do with dhtml. even worse, the buttons themselves lead to a different page than intended. example: a link that's supposed to go to the page outlining his company's vision instead goes to a review page about html books. this is just one example. the whole site appears to have been handed over to an inexperienced intern to maintain. i should have known better than to take the easy way. i should have gone with one of the larger and more informative books from a reliable publisher. this book is a waste of my time. it's going in the dumpster. i have no idea why everyone else is cheering.