JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook : Solutions and Example for Web Programmers

While I don't want to turn people away from this book, I would like to point out that many of the recipes in this book (like DOM manipulation, Ajax, styling, etc.) can be done more easily using a framework like jQuery. I suppose that is why I was somewhat disappointed by this book; most of the things it accomplishes can be solved using a few lines of jQuery. I gave it five out of five stars for two reasons: First of all, it does provide some excellent examples, especially in departments where jQuery isn't all that useful like string manipulation and arrays. The date manipulation recipes are very useful as well. Secondly, I didn't think it was fair to give it anything lower just because I don't use all of the material in it. I'm sure that eventually I will end up doing some kind of raw DOM manipulation without jQuery, whether it be with Greasemonkey userscripts or on portable devices, or for very short scripts. In my opinion, this book is for someone who is not using jQuery (either because they don't want to or can't) or for someone who is developing a JavaScript framework. I would also recommend it for anyone who wants easy-to-use examples of array, string, and date manipulation. 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 sheetsPresenting user-friendly page navigationCreating dynamic contentProducing visual effects for stationary contentPositioning HTML elementsManaging browser windows and multiple framesThis book is the ideal companion to O'Reilly's The Definitive Guide and Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference. If you own either of these books, the JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook is a must. I was still relatively new to Javascript when I got this book, so I just went through all of the code examples one-by-one to see how they worked. It was a great way to learn, and the book has stayed on my desk ever since for reference. Offers problems, solutions, and examples for readers using JavaScript and DHTML in Web pages, covering topics such as interactive forms, user-friendly navigation, dynamic and stationary content, and frames.