Websites today are extremely interactive and need to be to attract and maintain readers. O’Reilly is now adding to its popular and useful Missing Manual series with mini manuals that focus on small topics, including adding interactivity to your website.
Add Interactivity to Your Site: The Mini Missing Manual focuses on the use of Javascript, a simplified programming language that is in use all over the web. The manual assumes that you have a website and have some familiarity with scripts. If you blog using Google’s free Blogger platform, most of the interactive widgits you can chose from are built in Javascript. Javascript can be used to create pop-up windows, forms, responsive buttons, and ads.
MacDonald begins by explaining Javascript, what it can and cannot do, how it works, and what the elements of well constructed javascript are. Starting with the example of a simple message box pop up, we are given the code and then asked to try to change the message, display more than one message box at a time, and change when and how the pop up box displays in the browser.
If you are already comfortable with coding and scripting, this book is not for you as it doesn’t teach Javascript, just offers enough tools to find and modify existing scripts. There is a long list of Javascript websites and tips on how they are organized and how to best use them. Basically, if you are a newbie to the web and want to learn just a bit more to customize your site and let your visitors communicate with you and have some fun, Add Interactivity to Your Site: The Mini Missing Manual will give you just enough information to make that happen.
Article comments
1 - Jet Gardner
Submitted to digg by Jet: BlogCritics "Reviews in Brief" covers writer Lynda Lippin's take of this very instructional text that is great for newbies to the web who want to learn a bit more to customize a site, let visitors communicate, and have some fun
2 - Lynda Lippin
Thanks for the Digg, Jet!