JavaScript and DHTML Cookbook

Keywords: JavaScript, DHTML, CSS, HTML, Web Development

Title: JavaScript and DHTML Cookbook

Author: Danny Goodman

Publisher: O'Reilly

ISBN: 0596004672

Media: Book

Level: Intermediate JavaScript

Verdict: Good, useful book to have around

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A good cookbook should do more than simply list ingredients and instructions. The same is true whether you've got a book of recipes for food, mathematics or software. A cookbook should provide insight into how to put together your own recipes and how to pick the right ingredients for your own use. The recipes themselves should leave ample room for experimentation and re-use. Above all, the reader needs to understand what is going on.

Danny Goodman's JavaScript and DHTML Cookbook does for web scripting and dynamic HTML what the best cookbooks do for food. Organised into fifteen chapters, Goodman's recipes are the answer to so many of those 'how do I?' questions that most developers ask at some time or another. Starting with Strings, the book moves swiftly trough numbers, dates, arrays, browser detection and manipulation, styles sheets and much more.

Given the environment, there is a good deal of focus on browser compatibility, platforms and standards. Each recipe is clearly flagged with browser tags so that it is clear what version of IE or NN is assumed. The problem that each recipe solves is described, a solution outlined (using both code and text) and this is followed by a useful discussion of any issues that are raised. Furthermore many of the recipes are cross-referred to others. Code re-use is not ignored, and a number recipes build on components described in others. In addition to the recipes, each chapter opens with a discussion of the problems and issues that it covers - which is useful for putting some context around groups of related recipes.

The best cookbooks distil the wisdom of an experienced and skilled master - and this is precisely what Danny Goodman does here. You can chose to simply reuse these recipes and add to your own web sites and applications. Or you can take them, pull them apart and put them back together again and learn much more in the process. Either way, this is a good book to have around if you code in JavaScript and DHTML.

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