Title: Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference
Author: Danny Goodman
Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates http://www.oreilly.com
Publication Date: August 1998
Pages: 1073
ISBN: 1-56592-494-0
Price: $44.95

Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference was written by Danny Goodman because he felt that he couldn't trust any of the documentation on Dynamic HTML (DHTML) that he read (too many contradictions). He decided to write this book as a reference for working with his own clients. After testing tags and techniques on multiple releases of the main browsers, Goodman came up with very practical information--some of which you may not find in any other resource. Goodman has a solid foundation in basic HTML, as well as an understanding of what DHTML is all about, and he presents a meaty, information-dense volume.

Features I like include:

• A complete reference for all of the HTML tags, CSS style attributes, browser document objects, and JavaScript objects supported by the various standards and the latest versions of
  Navigator and Internet Explorer. Browser compatibility is emphasized throughout; the reference pages clearly indicate browser support for every entity.
• Handy cross-reference indexes that make it easy to find interrelated HTML tags, style attributes, and document objects.
• An advanced introduction to creating dynamic Web content that addresses the cross-platform compromises inherent in Web page design today.

The book is divided into four parts.

Chapters 1 through 7 try to make sense of the alphabet soup of industry standards surrounding DHTML and demonstrate the use of cascading style sheets, element positioning, dynamic content, and scripting events. These chapters explain how Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer implement the various DHTML technologies, and they discuss how to develop cross-browser web applications.

• Chapter 1 The State of the Art
• Chapter 2 Cross-Platform Compromises
• Chapter 3 Adding Style Sheets to Documents
• Chapter 4 Adding Dynamic Positioning to Documents
• Chapter 5 Making Content Dynamic
• Chapter 6 Scripting Events
• Chapter 7 Looking Ahead to HTML 4.0

Chapters 8 through 11 provide at-a-glance references for the tags, attributes, objects, properties, methods, and event handlers of HTML, CSS, DOM, and core JavaScript. These are the chapters to use to look up the attributes of an HTML element or to see whether a particular object property is available in the desired browser brands and versions.

• Chapter 8 HTML Reference
• Chapter 9 Document Object Reference
• Chapter 10 Style Sheet Attribute Reference
• Chapter 11 JavaScript Core Language Reference

Chapters 12 through 15 slice through the information of Part Ii along different angles. Perhaps you recall the name of an attribute you found useful some time ago, but don't recall which elements provide that attribute. Here you can look up that attribute (or object property, method, or event handler) to find all the items that recognize it.

• Chapter 12 HTML Attribute Index
• Chapter 13 Document Object Properties Index
• Chapter 14 Document Object Methods Index
• Chapter 15 Document Object Event handlers Index

Appendixes provide a quick lookup for a variety of values useful in HTML authoring and scripting. A glossary also gives you quick explanations of some of the new and potentially confusing terminology of DHTML.

• Appendix A Color Names and RGB Values
• Appendix B HTML Character Entities
• Appendix C Keyboard Event Character Values
• Appendix D Internet Explorer Commands
• Glossary

Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference It is comprehensive and one of the simplest reference manuals to use, with excellent descriptions of each HTML tag and attribute, style sheet attributes, JavaScript, and the DOM methods and properties. It allows you to quickly see what is browser compatible and what is not.

• Internet-ready computer, PC or Macintosh.