Modern Web Design

Modern web design with JavaScript and DOM

Reviewed by Major Keary

Another title from the impressive stable of SitePoint, DHTML Utopia: Modern Web Design Using JavaScript & DOM has been written for "people who have built websites before" and who have experience working with HTML and CSS. Notice the use of 'modern web design'; web technologies are constantly changing and SitePoint is at the forefront of documenting the latest standards, techniques, and tools.

If a web page offers, or requires, non-trivial user input it needs DHTML (Dynamic HTML), which is "a combination of proper HTML for your content, Cascading Style Sheets for your design, and JavaScript for interactivity". 'Proper HTML' means valid HTML: it complies with the rules for how HTML should be written
(http://w3.org/TR/html4), which specify that tags should be properly nested (no cross-overs); container tags should be closed; and a Document Type is mandatory.

The DOM (Document Object Model) "provides access to the structure of an HTML page by mapping the elements in that page to a tree of nodes". If you want to use DHTML is necessary to understand the DOM. Modern Web Design contains a very clear explanation of what it is and how it is used. An example shows how DOM is used to build a form that grows as the user fills it in.

The author walks his readers through all aspects of building a dynamic website using JavaScript and DOM. The content is presented in tutorial format, but is not confined to plain instructions. The text is supported by extensive use of annotated example code that can be downloaded from a companion website. The annotations are not terse, and extend into to lucid explanations of why something is done and how the code works. Topics covered extend to advanced concepts (such as multilevel dropdown menus), remote scripting, and communicating with the server.

An instance of the book's thoroughness is a discussion of detecting browser features rather than simply browser 'sniffing'. The modern technique is to test for the necessary features—such as DOM compliance—rather than identify the 'make' of browser. A dynamic web site can be built to cope with browsers that lack a full complement of preferred features.

This book has an extraordinary depth of detail, but is written in a style that won't leave the reader floundering. It is not for novices, but anyone with a reasonable understanding of building websites should be able to follow the tutorial without difficulty. SitePoint doesn't release many books, but the ones it does publish are of remarkable quality.

Stuart Langridge: DHTML Utopia: Modern Web Design Using JavaScript & DOM
ISBN 0-9579218-9-6
Published by SitePoint, 318 pp., RRP $74.95 incl. GST