DHTML Utopia Modern Web Design Using JavaScript & DOM (Paperback)

by Stuart Langridge (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
"Create Killer Websites Using the Power of Modern JavaScript" DHTML Utopia is an easy-to-follow, step-by-step tutorial that will show you how to make your websites more slick, dynamic, and usable.

Add dynamic interactivity to your website with DHTML by combining the power of JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheets(CSS), and the Document Object Model (DOM) to achieve bulletproof, accessible, standards-compliant, and aesthetically pleasing results that work on all browsers.

• Build fancy DHTML effects that can be instantly reused in any project
• Learn to code accessible JavaScript that won't trouble older browsers
• Make search engine friendly, multi-level, drop-down navigation menus
• Create usable forms that auto-complete, just like "Google Suggest"
• Build dynamic web applications using remote scripting techniques/Ajax

From the Back Cover
Add dynamic interactivity to your Web site with DHTML and Cascading Style Sheets!

• Targeted to designers and content creators, not just programmers.
• Visual, task-based format the ideal way to get up and running with DHTML.

This edition is up-to-date on the current Web standards and browsers, and includes all new coverage of using DHTML to get information about the browser environment and adding multimedia to a site, as well as new basic and advanced dynamic techniques, such as making objects appear and disappear, moving objects in 3D, and adding dynamic content. This edition offers full cross-platform and cross-browser coverage. This book does not focus on the more complex aspects of DHTML, but focuses on practical examples of what really works with DHTML and CSS, making it useful for beginners just starting out with DHTML, as well as professional developers looking for a quick reference.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 318 pages
• Publisher: SitePoint (June 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0957921896
• ISBN-13: 978-0957921894
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #610,547 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars New things happening with JavaScript, June 10, 2005

By	Brett Merkey (Palm Harbor, FL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In the past year I have seen some impressive yet close to incomprehensible scripts that show a new direction in JavaScript. We can find syntax and approaches so different from the standard practice most of us implement. Unfortunately, the scripters who have grasped the new techniques have shown little interest in explaining the new approach. Their examples published on the Web have a "show-offy" character that do little to communicate or proselytize.

For that reason, I was eager to study this book since it promised to deal with some of the new approaches, including the syntax. I have learned a lot from the author who early on made pains to keep me running apace. Regretfully, the author seemed to be less and less concerned with keeping me with him as the book progressed. The first 4 chapters were the clearest.

Part of the problem was mine. Since the book did not seem to be organized in a linear fashion, I skipped Ch. 5 on animation. I design Web applications so I associate animation with script kiddies and popup ad makers. Ch. 6, on form validation, was up my alley but following the author was painful because he kept referring to a variable "fV" that was defined with a self-referential, bizarrely nested syntax. Only at the end of the chapter did he mention that Ch. 5 first used this syntax. I had to go back to the previous chapter to get a clue. But only a clue because that chapter never really tried to explain why this extremely unconventional approach was used.

The author early on tries to make the case that his approach is better than the conventional one. I *think* I agree but as the chapters progressed, he made less and less effort to prove anything at all. I was very disappointed in this. I also did not like the odd way the braces in the scripts were handled. Because he did not line them up well, it was difficult to tell when a section of a script began or ended. The author recognized this in some cases by putting in comments:
} /* end 'if' */
} /* end 'for' */
It would have been better to match braces visibly. Yes, code alignment is a matter of taste so I cannot really hold that against him.

Some examples did not work quite as advertised. The type-ahead dropdown script did not work at all in Windows Firefox and worked only erratically in IE.

I liked the way the author oriented his examples to user-centered design. Ultimately, the key to the best implementations of JavaScripting is not the syntactical approach but how the functionality fits into the usability of what you are doing.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Advanced, but terse, June 23, 2005

By	Jack D. Herrington "engineer and author" (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

There is some great cutting edge stuff in here. If you know what you are doing already and want to get a jump start into Ajax then this is a good book for you. My problem with it is that the text relies too heavily on the code to convey the message. Which means that the book is better for advanced readers. I also would have appreciated some more emphasis on what works cross browser and how to handle older browsers.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Avoid this like the plague, February 20, 2006

By	Jon Hanlon (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is without doubt the worst book on DHTML/Javascript that I've ever read. The author tries to be cute, funny and authorative but ends up just plain painful. The examples are over-long and artificial, and would be difficult to incorporate into a real world application. The author peppers the book with snazzy shots like "It's the modern way!" but rarely explains the benefits of the methodology he's pushing, and glosses over any shortcomings.
For instance, in discussing regular expressions he provides a simple expression for a telephone number, then points out that it's seriously flawed. But it's "suitable for our discussion" so onward we press, and a correct solution is never provided. Bad luck if you were after such a beast. (Footnotes abound - often just URLs to now broken links - so you have to wonder why he couldn't have provided the solution at the bottom of the page.) The part on Ajax is a joke - he just plugs in an out-of-date version of the Sarissa library and never scratches below the surface.
Beware.