Practical JavaScript for the Usable Web (Paperback)

by Paul Wilton (Author), Stephen Williams (Author), Sing Li (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This is a new kind of JavaScript book. It's not cut'n'paste, it's not a reference, and it's not an exhaustive investigation of the JavaScript language. It is about client-side, web focused, and task-oriented JavaScript.

JavaScript is a core skill for web professionals, and as every web professional knows, client-side JavaScript can produce all sorts of glitches and bugs. 'Practical JavaScript for the Usable Web' takes a two pronged approach to learning the JavaScript that you need to get your work done: teaching the core client-side JavaScript that you need to incorporate usable interactivity into your web applications, including many short functional scripts, and building up a complete application with shopping cart functionality.

When you have finished working with this book, you'll have a thorough grounding in Client-side JavaScript, and be able to construct your own client-side functionality quickly, easily, and without falling into any of the usability traps that this technology leaves wide open. This book covers: DHTML for IE4 and NN4 browsers, and the Dom for the latest browsers
Usability techniques
Working scripts that can be incorporated into your web applications immediately
Step-by-step breakdown of JavaScript shopping cart functionality
Advanced Data Validation Techniques


From the Publisher
This is for readers who are either learning JavaScript from scratch, or who have a little experience - perhaps with DreamWeaver behaviors, or incorporating scripts into their pages. It assumes a though understanding of HTML, and a little CSS experience.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Peer Information; 1st edition (March 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1904151051
• ISBN-13: 978-1904151050
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,883,932 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Relevant Fresh Introduction To JavaScript, July 22, 2002

By A Customer

JavaScript is one language that all too frequently is taken too lightly by too many people. Harder-core programmers frown at it, while in reality, they more frequently misunderstand it or under-value its powers.
If you need to learn JavaScript, have some programming experience and want an intelligent introduction, this book is what you want.
Unlike many other books I looked at when examining JavaScript, this one is new, is not condesending and has all the information needed to get you going in utilizing JavaScript in your web projects.
JavaScript can provide a very fast alternative to thing that hard-core programmers do on the back end, and can also utilize new technologies, like document manipulations without the use of frames. The book contains an exploration of the Document Object Model (DOM) and its more recent incarnations, and provides examples from people who are at the frontlines and know what you will need when you will venture on your own.
The book covers JavaScript's primitive objects, the creation of object classes, and shows your way through dynamic menus and many other exciting features of the language.
I will not recommend this book to people who come from the design angle of things. It does not explain too much on what is programming or on basics that designers need to know before stepping into the fold.
All in all, I liked this book a lot. In my eyes, it is better than the O'Reilly fare and when matched with a reference cheat sheet (like the one from O'Reilly), it can be all that you need.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read, February 11, 2003

By A Customer

Fresh and enjoyable read. This book is a great companion to a solid Javascript reference after you have dabbled in some Client side scripting.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A task oriented book, January 10, 2003

By	Foti Massimo (Vezia (Switzerland)) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

A task oriented book that, notwithstanding a small number of pages, manage to break some new grounds and cover a few advanced topics. Not suited for a complete programming novice, but if you have some programming experience and want an intelligent introduction it may be a great choice. Also recommended to JavaScript freaks looking for some refreshing material