Welcome | Introduction

Once upon a time creating Web pages was no more difficult than using a word processor. You learned a few HTML tags, created a few graphics, and presto: Web page. Now, with streaming video, JavaScript, ASP, JSP, PHP, Shockwave, Flash, and Java, the design of Web pages may seem overwhelming to anyone who doesn’t want to become a computer programmer. Enter Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Dynamic HTML (DHTML), Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax) technologies that give you—the Web designer—the ability to take static HTML and create an interactive webbed environment. With CSS, you can create virtually any layout you can imagine, not only adding visual interest to your content, but also creating a more compelling design.

With DHTML, you don’t have to rely on plug-ins that the visitor might not have—or rely on complicated programming languages (except maybe a little JavaScript).

With Ajax (the new kid on the block), you can go even further than DHTML can take you, by being able to easily fetch fresh data from the server without ever having to reload the entire Web page, which creates a far better experience for site visitors.

That’s what this book is about: How to create attractive Web layouts and interactive Web pages as simply as possible. This book will not turn you into the ultimate Web-design guru overnight, but it will give you the foundations you need to realize your own Web-design vision.

If you are learning Web design and do not know CSS, DHTML, or Ajax, this is where you need to begin. Welcome!

Welcome | Reviews

The Reviews are In for DHTML and CSS for the World Wide Web

Iain Laskey, Practical PC
...we thought this was a great book that achieves its goals admirably and is a very good guide for anyone involved in web development either at home or professionally.

Edward Tanguay, Net Language
This book allows you to skim through fast and learn what you don't know yet about CSS and DHTML (why? because what is new on every page is in red -- very nice). I am learning the background I wanted about DHTML. Like other Visual QuickStart Guides, this book is very useful (and not that expensive).

A Book Lovers Book Reviews
This book is an excellent resource for anyone who already knows something about web design and wants to go to the next level. Most of the code provided is very useful and, if implemented at the beginning of design, can save a webmaster a lot of time in site maintenance. Probably the best feature of this book is the prevalent use of pictures, examples and tips to use if you get stuck. The extensive information on browser-specific coding is essential to any webmaster who wants to be cross-browser compatible

Tom Wilson, Information Research
This is a useful introduction to dynamic HTML, with a lot of good advice on what to avoid if you want your pages to be read by any browser.

Michael Simpson
A brilliant book at a reasonable price, very concise and yet understanderable with lots of relevant examples of well tested scripts. The examples given are presented within a well thought out set of categories that make their relevance to website design immeadiately seen.

Amazon Reviewer
This is definitively the best presentation I've seen for beginners and intermediate users. Besides a great reference, it goes beyond the usual "what it is" and gets into how to actually do things you're going to want to do. Each CSS facility is described, an example is provided, and has a quick-reading chart showing which browsers it is (or is not) compatible with.

Errata & FAQ

This section contains questions from readers as well as errors found in the book, so if you run into a problem , check here first, and if you still do not find your answer contact the author.

Book Errata

Coming Soon

CSS FAQ

Coming Soon

This section will contain questions from readers, so if you run into a problem with the book, check here first, and if you still do not find your answer the author.

DHTML FAQ

Coming Soon

This section will contain questions from readers, so if you run into a problem with the book, check here first, and if you still do not find your answer the author.

Tools & Resources

• Coda: Excellent basic Web editor for the Mac from the good folks at Panic software.
• Art Director's Toolkit: The swiss army knife of design.

CSS

Coming Soon

DHTML

Coming Soon

Ajax

Coming Soon

Downloads

I hope you'll be using a lot of the code from this book in your Web pages, but watch out: retyping information can lead to errors. Some books include a fancy-shmancy CD-ROM containing all the code from the book, and you can pull it off that disk. But guess who pays for that CD? You do. And CDs aren't cheap. That's why I'm placing the code here for you to download. If you haven't bought the book, shame on you, but go ahead and enjoy the code anyway.

NOTE: This code is free to use for anyone, but comes with no warrenty. Enjoy.

Downloads | Code

You can view all of the code examples online using the Code Browser, or download compressed version of the code for offline viewing. This file includes the Code Browser (open index.html in any modern Web browser) or you can peruse the code folder using the operating system of your choice. Feel free to copy, change, delete or do whatever you feel like doing to this code. If you do something really neat, let me know.

Download Code (5.24MB) »

Downloads | Bonus Chapters

Unfortunantly, we had to cut a lot of stuff from the most recent edition of the book. Trust me, though, it wasen't my first choice. So I'm supplying free of charge the last chapter of the book and all of the appendixes on this site as PDFs for you to download and share freely with friends, family, your psychologist, or whomever you think will most benefit from them.

1. Debugging Your Code »
2. CSS Quick Reference »
3. DHTML Quick Reference »
4. Ajax Quick Reference »
5. The CSS, DHTML, and Ajax Browsers »
6. Keyboard Charachter Values »

Downloads | Browser Safe Fonts

The tables in this dowloadable PDF version of Appendix E from the book 3rd edition, present the fonts that are preinstalled on Windows and Mac computers as they come out of the box as well as the list of the Microsoft Core Web fonts, which are installed by Internet Explorer. The list also includes the styles (bold, bold Italic, or italic) that are available for the fonts, the generic family the font belongs to, and an example of the font. To use these fonts, either pick a font available for both Mac or Windows, or choose similar fonts and list both of them in the font list. Remember that multi-word font names should be in quotes (example: "Andale Mono").

Browser Safe Fonts (3.7 MB) »

Code Examples

All of the code in the book is available for testing at this Web site. To test the code, click the link below to launch the code palette in a new window which appears in the top right of your screeen. This palette includes links that will open a new window to display the code results.

Launch Code Browser »