| Getting Started With JavaScript is like beginning any other scripting, or
programming, language. To learn it, you have to use it. JavaScript is the “engine”
that makes things move on a page; by working with dynamic design elements,
the more you see what can be done with JavaScript and the more incentive there
is to learn to use it. JavaScript allows designers to release those aspects of design
creativity that cannot be expressed in static HTML.
You need not look very far to find a use for JavaScript, and so opportunities
abound for learning the language—rollovers, moving text, prompt windows, and
alert boxes are just a few of the actions powered by JavaScript. JavaScript is a
ranged language. It ranges from extremely simple built-in functions and
statements that can make your page jump to fairly sophisticated coding
structures. By beginning with the simple, you can ease your way to its more
complex and powerful structures as dictated by design needs. It doesn’t require a
compiler or a degree in computer science to learn. It lives right among the HTML
tags, and most JavaScript programs are relatively small, so you’re not spending
all your life writing hundreds of lines of code.
Throughout this book, you will see explanations accompanied by examples and
applications. However, the applications are really only extensions of some feature
or concept in JavaScript. My goal with this book is not merely to enable you to cut
and paste snippets of code, but rather to understand JavaScript in a way that you
can apply to your own projects. When you master JavaScript, you will be able to
imagine a project or design in your mind’s eye and then create the JavaScript
necessary to make your imagined scene a reality on a web page. |
