A Few Things You Should Know About DHTML
- Extends HTML
- Is a group of interrelated technologies (rather than a single
technology)
- Group includes: Scripting language, DOM, HTML 4.0 and CSS
- Provides dynamic content to the browser
- Alternative to some server-side technologies
- Used mostly for entertainment
DHTML Limitations
- Only partial browser support
- Inconsistencies between Netscape and Internet Explorer regarding
DHTML performance
DOM & DHTML
The DOM is a key component in DHTML. DOM stands for "Document
Object Model" and was developed by Netscape. It is a specification
or "instance hierarchy" of JavaScript objects.
To help you understand this, consider that JavaScript is an object
based programming language, and it is event-driven. Therefore, there
needs to be a hierarchy of all the objects within the browser window.
CSS & DHTML
CSS allows you to define tag properties to create your own text
effects, as well as control absolute positioning of elements on
a page. CSS are a part of DHTML
Scripting & DHTML
HTML and CSS enables you to control page structure, but it is scripting
that enables you to interact with tags and styles. You can use VBScript
or JavaScript to interact with the DHTML DOM.
FrontPage and Dreamweaver
Both FrontPage and Dreamweaver include some canned, easy
to implement DHTML. You can feel fairly safe using the DHTML that
comes with these 2 programs. They have only included methods that
are deemed safe in Netscape and Internet Explorer versions
4 and later
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