Getting Started with JavaScript

Abstract

This book is about a scripting language called JavaScript and how to use it in a practical manner. After you read it, you’ll be able to

• Understand JavaScript syntax and structures.

• Create scripts that are easy to understand and maintain.

• Write scripts that do not interfere with other JavaScripts.

• Write scripts that make web sites easier to use without blocking out non-JavaScript users.

• Write scripts that are independent of the browser or user agent trying to understand them—which means that in some years they will still be usable and won’t rely on obsolete technology.

• Enhance a web site with JavaScript and allow developers without any scripting knowledge to change the look and feel.

• Enhance a web document with JavaScript and allow HTML developers to use your functionality by simply adding a CSS class to an element.

• Use progressive enhancement to make a web document nicer only when and if the user agent allows for it.

• Use Ajax to bridge the gap between back end and client side, thus creating sites that are easier to maintain and appear much slicker to the user.

• Use JavaScript as part of a web methodology that enables you to maintain it independently without interfering with the other development streams.

What you will not find here are

• Instructions on how to create effects that look flashy but do nothing of value for the visitor

• JavaScript applications that are browser specific

• JavaScripts that are only there to prove that they can be used and do not enhance the visitor’s experience

• JavaScripts that promote unwanted content, such as pop-up windows or other flashy techniques like tickers or animation for animation’s sake