Inspired by the need for rapid user interface development and cross-browser compatibility, authors Steven Champeon and David S. Fox wrote
Building Dynamic HTML GUIs to fill an information void. User interface design is rarely addressed in detail for intranet and Internet development, so this title offers a fresh perspective.
The first part of the book comprises four chapters on general user interface design principles. This section includes a detailed look at user interface designs past and present, providing a fascinating history of user interface (UI) evolution. The fourth chapter focuses specifically on the new challenges of Web UI design.
The book then moves into dynamic HTML (DHTML) and begins with the Document Object Model (DOM). The authors explain the needs and benefits of a DOM visually with diagrams and code snippets. They then introduce client-side scripting with explanations of all the various language flavors such as VBScript, JavaScript, and ECMAScript. This part finishes off with a discussion of cascading style sheets (CSS) and a solid wrap-up chapter.
In the large remainder of the book, the authors present tons of examples. They guide the reader through building feedback forms, a custom color picker, cookie-management modules, dynamic menus, and more. They also show how to use DHTML in a help system. This guide will be most appreciated by those with some existing HTML and DHTML background; it offers a very comprehensive look at the confusing set of technologies that make up today's dynamic HTML.
--Stephen Plain
Customer Reviews & Comments
I seldom read "doorstop" techology books -- you know, the 600-1000 page works focused on exhaustive reference and tutorials into some technology. The good ones sit on my desk like a dictionary, waiting for me to look up a particular syntax for something. The bad ones prop up my monitor. This book, however, does neither. Champeon does great job doing what it's advertised as doing: You can use his work to step you through the daunting task of building interfaces to Web applications that work in both browsers. With a supporting Web site for downloading the code he refers to in the book, you'll have a complete package for taking the next step in dynamic development for the Web. But he doesn't stop there. While so many technical books give you the nuts and bolts to build your projects, so few give you anything else. Champeon realizes that this is only the end of a long process of understanding the reasons WHY you should build sites the way he suggests. To drive home his point, he digs into the history of interface theory: from the early command-line interfaces, to modern GUIs, and now the advent of powerful tools displayed through hypertext interfaces. Without this understanding of the fundamentals of good, user-centered design, any interface you build will fail. This book will give you that understanding, plus to tools to put that knowledge into practice. If only all technical authors understood this...
