[.ca] JavaScript for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart ... (ISBN 0321150716)

From Amazon.co.uk:
When Peachpit Press released the debut edition of JavaScript for the World Wide Web: Visual QuickStart Guide, it immediately became one of the most useful tools for busy Web developers. Now in its fourth edition, this book has been improved, expanded, and more finely tuned. Written for Web coders who have at least some familiarity with HTML, the book doesn't necessarily require you to have knowledge of JavaScript programming or scripting. The presentation is illustrative and productive, and concepts are introduced via practical examples, explained briefly, presented in code, and then explained line by line. Using judicious screen shots and new code highlighted in red, the authors have made JavaScriptquite intuitive. In this new edition, they point out features compatible with only certain Web browsers using new IE and Netscape icons. Along with its core content, the text includes an excellent genealogy of the various flavours of JavaScript, complete with an extensive object flowchart that is colour coded by browser version. It also steps outside the base language with a chapter on visual development tools that use JavaScript, such as Dreamweaver, GoLive, and Fireworks. There are tons of useful scripts in the book, and the publisher provides a companion Web where you can get each script, as well as an interface for viewing the code in action. You can download all of the scripts in a single ZIP file. This is simply a must-have guide to JavaScript. --Stephen W Plain Topics covered:Browser detection, Rollovers, Cycling banners, Frames, Windows, Form validations, Regular expressions, Date and time display, Event handling, Cookies, Cascading style sheets (CSS), DHTML, User interface design, Bookmarklets, Visual development tools, Debugging, Genealogy and reference.

Great introduction:
I maintain content for a corporate extranet. I have often implemented JavaScript scripts and made some modifications. However, I had never really understood how the scripts worked. I got this book and "Beginning JavaScript" by Paul Wilton, so I could learn the nuts and bolts. After reading this I started to actually understand the scripts I was implementing. I recommend that beginners start by reading the Visual Quickstart (VQ) book and then move onto something more indepth like Wilton's book. VQ is an excellent concise introduction to the basics of JavaScript. It gives a quick explanation of things such as event handlers, methods, properties, functions and loops. You should be able to finish this book in a couple of weeks and have a solid understanding of the basics of JavaScript. However, you will then need something more indepth to truly learn to program complex JavaScripts.

SCRIPTS DON'T WORK:
It seems to me that most of these scripts don't work. I'm in IT and also a web site administrator, and I still can't get them to work as they are written. I give the authors a 3 for being motivated enough to write the book, though. It seems that they have good intentions.

Good for copying code you need but not learning JavaScript:
I have to agree with Robert from Philly above -- this book is good for copying code that you need for your site but NOT for teaching you how to use JavaScript, despite the fact that the front cover claims that you can "teach yourself JavaScript the quick and easy way!... You'll be up and running in no time!" Well, you cannot teach yourself JavaScript with any depth of understanding with this book and the only way you can be "up and running" is by copying their code into your HTML document. Right at the beginning of the text there is a brief section (5 pages) describing what objects, properties, methods, event handlers, and variables/values are, but then the text jumps right into complex code for specific functions with general explanations of the details and barely any explanation of the syntax, as if the authors just EXPECT that you will want to copy the code for your own personal use instead of understand it. I was very, very disappointed in this book that was recommended to me by a JavaScript teacher.

Blast From the Past:
JavaScript for the World Wide Web does not offer anything extraordinary in regards to the JavaScript (ECMAScript) language. This book focuses on simple web tricks that are simply out of season for modern web design and programming. There is hardly, if at all, coverage of programming with modern browsers like IE6, Opera 7, and Mozilla and with web standards from W3C, nor is there mention of non-web programming usages of JavaScript (ECMAScript) like for .NET, Acrobat, Flash. So if you want to do little web tricks that was popular with Netscape 3 and Netscape 4 from almost a decade ago (frames, forms, images, etc.), then this book is for you. If you want to program for modern applications including modern web browsers, then you'll have to look elsewhere as this book is a waste of time, even it was for free.

A good book to add but should not be your only book:
I have two other Javascript books and have used on-line resources from time to time. I found this fifth edition to be a worthy addition. It isn't intended to be the ultimate comprehensive book, nor does it target the advanced scripter who wants the latest in tips and tricks. As it says in the introduction, the authors "concentrate on showing you how to get useful tasks done with JavaScript without a lot of extraneous information." The "Where to Learn More" section directs you to an excellent sampling of on-line resources that more than adequately addresses what you might find lacking in this book. There are lots of practical examples and there is a companion site on-line where you can check out the examples and access the code for copy and pasting. Since there are so many different ways to do things with JavaScript, you may or may not like the choices the authors make in the examples but you can't go far wrong imitating their style. The language is clear and easy for me to understand, which really helps. Javascript can be really frustrating compared to some other languages because there is zero tolerance for error and the error messages generated are of such little help in identifying the problem. The tips this book offers on debugging are worth way more than the price of the book!