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DHTML

DHTML Overview

What is DHTML?

DHTML stands for 'Dynamic HTML'. Many people are familiar with Dynamic HTML, but many don't know what it really is. Before we get into what DHTML is, we should first point out what DHTML is not.

DHTML Is Not A Language

DHTML is not a programming language, and technically not a markup language either. You don't need to add a .dhtml extension of a DHTML enabled page. DHTML pages are written in regular HTML/XHTML markup.

Dynamic HTML is only a marketing term invented by Netscape and Microsoft for various technologies abilities included in their version 4 browsers.

Versions 4 and Higher

Throughout this course, the browsers we will be talking about the most are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. The techniques described in this course will only work on versions 4 and higher of both of these browsers.

Both Netscape and Microsoft have their own proprietary technologies that are considered DHTML, but for this course, we are going to concentrate on those technologies that are common to both browsers: Namely, JavaScript and CSS.

JavaScript

JavaScript (more on JavaScript in a bit) is a programming language that both Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer can understand, making it a good choice for cross-browser DHTML.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is another important part of DHTML. Where JavaScript provides the programming end of things, CSS defines the appearance of objects. While older HTML tags allowed you to define an object's appearance. CSS allows you to do this much more efficiently, and from a central 'rule' as it were. (More on CSS a bit later on in this course.)

HTML/XHTML

Of course, you couldn't have any kind of Web page without HTML or XHTML, which is the latest standard. DHTML will work just fine in older HTML code, but for the purposes of this course, all the HTML code presented will be shown as XHTML.

Document Object Model (DOM)

Central to all three of the above items is the Document Object Model (DOM). The DOM is what allows you to locate any object in a Web page, and manipulate it the way you want to. Some browsers have slightly different versions of the DOM, that can make things a little more difficult than they should be. We will be discussing the DOM in greater detail later on in this course.

What is DHTML? Summary

DHTML stands for Dynamic HTML. It is not a language of its own, but a marketing term coined by Netscape and Microsoft to describe some of the new features of their version 4 browsers.

The DHTML this course will deal with is comprised of the DHTML components which are compatible with both major browsers. These components are:

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