On numerous online forums for JavaScript and DHTML, the majority of questions begin with "How do I...?" This new Cookbook provides the answers. After reading thousands of forum threads over the years, author and scripting pioneer Danny Goodman has compiled a list of problems that frequently vex scripters of various experience levels. He has now applied state-of-the-art ECMA and W3C DOM standards and used best practices to create this extensive collection of practical recipes that can bring your web pages to life. The JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook is all about adding value to the content of a web page. The book focuses on practical and sensible applications of scripting, rather than flying images and gratuitous color changes. For every problem Goodman addresses, there's a solution or "recipe"--a focused piece of code that web developers can insert directly into their applications. Yet, rather than just cut-and-paste code, you also get explanations of how and why the code works, so you can learn to adapt the problem-solving techniques to your designs. The recipes range from simple tasks, such as manipulating strings and validating dates in JavaScript, to entire libraries that demonstrate complex tasks, such as cross-browser positioning of HTML elements and sorting tables. This book contains over 150 recipes on the following topics:

• Working with interactive forms and style sheets

• Presenting user-friendly page navigation

• Creating dynamic content

• Producing visual effects for stationary content

• Positioning HTML elements

• Managing browser windows and multiple frames

This book is the ideal companion to O'Reilly's JavaScript: The Definitive Guide and Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference. If you own either of these books, the JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook is a must.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 30 Ratings

A Good Book to Learn The Basics - 2008-06-10
Reviewer Rating:
Like most web developers, I typically will reach for one of the many JS libraries when it comes time to add client-side enhancements to my web applications. This is usually the obvious choice for the sake of saving time on projects, and keeping costs down... but quite often, many libraries are simply overkill for a simple little js/dhtml enhancement.

As such, that is what lead me to this book. I was hoping the cookbook format would give me some fresh ideas on doing some simple js/dhtml work and it most definitively delivered.

Perhaps the most valuable parts of this book for me were the aspects of working on the DOM. Additionally, I always enjoy reading different techniques for dealing with client-side form validation.

To me the coverage on loading dynamic data/ajax was good, but I still think that when entering into that realm of JS, it is usually time to deploy one of the libraries I mentioned earlier.

All in all this has become a valuable resource that I often refer to during my daily work.

Not what I thought it would be. - 2008-07-14
Reviewer Rating:
The book doesn't go in-depth in it's explainations. It is written more for the seasoned script writer and not the beginner. I found it very confusing and not enough detail to be of any use to me. I preferred "Javascript, Demystified".

JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook - 2009-04-20
Reviewer Rating:
I can honestly say this is the best JavaScript reference I have ever read. The writing style is both engaging and informative. Every recipe presents solutions to common scripting problems that are browser neutral, and "best practices" style JavaScript. If you don't already own JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook (2nd edition), I suggest you make this your next purchase.

Very useful, lots of gems - 2009-06-19
Reviewer Rating:
I'm a beginner/intermediate JS programmer and I found this book tremendously useful. I had to design a site for control and monitoring of an embedded device and this book more than paid for itself in the first few weeks. This is not for beginners, although I learned a great deal about the DOM and several JS browser-specific quirks simply by perusing the various "recipes". I would recommend that beginners start with a tutorial-style book first or some of the free online stuff, such as [...] and then get this book. If you use only a few of the recipes and it saves you time, its more than worth the price.

Good JS book - 2009-03-18
Reviewer Rating:
Like most of the cookbooks, this is perfect for a new JS programmer - like me.

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