Welcome

Today’s Web designers, whether their approach is that of a programmer or a visual designer, need to draw on more than just a bag of tricks. They need ideas for creating designs that look great and can be easily updated. They need ideas for creating a superior user experience that puts the visitor in control. They need ideas for linking complex data streams to their Web pages that will turn data into knowledge.If that sounds like you, then have I got the book for you.

DHTML and CSS Advanced is available from finer bookstores (on and off line) everywhere:

• Peachpit Press
• Amazon.com
• Amazon.co.uk
• Barnes and Noble
• Bookpool.com
• Books-A-Million
• WH Smith
• Powlles.com

Welcome | Introduction

In many ways this book is Part II to DHTML and CSS for the World Wide Web. In fact, when I started revising that book for its third edition, I realized that I had too much material to fit it all in. So Peachpit Press and I decided to take the advanced material out of that book, add the new material, and put it all in a new book: You are now holding the result.

The first three chapters in this book will help you to become a better Web designer. Whether you come from the programming or design side of the World Wide Web, these chapters will help you understand not just the how of Web design but also the why.

The last seven chapters are broken down into broad categories of user interface design:

• Content: Content may be king, but you are still the boss. Learn how to get the content you want when you want it.
• Layout: Everything from columns to curved corners is covered.
• Navigation: There’s more than one way to get around the Web. Learn how to create different menu types and get a few pointers on jazzing up buttons.
• Controls: Give visitors the power to create the Web page that best suits their needs.
• Forms: Why stick with boring, lifeless form fields? Instead, you can create forms that always let visitors know what they’re doing and what they’ve done.
• Special effects: Some fun stuff, some useful stuff, and one or two stupid tricks.
• Databases: Turn data into knowledge using XML, MySQL, PHP, and a little CSS and DHTML.

Welcome | Reviews

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

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.

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.

Download | Code

All of the code is available in ZIP format, which most PC's and Mac's should be able to use. If you run into any problems, contact me:

All Code (8.7 MB) >>

Download | Sample Chapter

Coming Soon

Download | Browser Safe Fonts

The tables in this dowloadable PDF version of Appendix E from the book 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 (1.4 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 Palette >>