http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Articles/Web-Design/DHTML A listing of the most recently indexed works about Articles and Web Design and DHTML in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Articles/Web-Design/DHTML http://tc.eserver.org/32650.html http://tc.eserver.org/32650.html The important things to address are page weight and load time. Both of these factors have a negative impact on the user, and we should be working towards minimizing it. http://tc.eserver.org/32496.html http://tc.eserver.org/32496.html A website’s navigation should, in my opinion, be visible and straightforward, not hidden away like this or in flyout/dropdown menus. But... http://tc.eserver.org/32414.html http://tc.eserver.org/32414.html Attractive dropdown menus have long been the realm of Flash developers and advanced JavaScript gurus. But that needn’t be the case. This tutorial will walk you through developing a clean, semantic dropdown menu using XHTML and CSS that works in all modern browsers! http://tc.eserver.org/32416.html http://tc.eserver.org/32416.html Earlier this week I talked a bit about message boxes – how to style them and position them on your page to get them noticed. But a message that pops up every single time your website is loaded could get annoying. It’d be useful to give your users the ability to close those messages. For that, we’ll turn to our friend JavaScript. http://tc.eserver.org/32418.html http://tc.eserver.org/32418.html Last week, CSSnewbie reader Andrea Pluhar wrote in with an interesting problem: she wanted to use CSS dropdown menus like the ones we featured last week on a website that she was building, but the design called for the submenu to be arranged horizontally, not vertically. She sent me a mockup of what she was after (excerpted above) and wondered if there was a way to accomplish this effect using CSS. http://tc.eserver.org/32419.html http://tc.eserver.org/32419.html I’ve developed a trick over the years that I’ve used on a number of websites now for making my sites’ navigation bars “intelligent” or “self-aware.” By that, I mean that the navigation bar automatically knows which tab/button/whatever should be considered the currently active link, without having to manually specify a class or ID on either the body tag or on the links themselves. http://tc.eserver.org/32420.html http://tc.eserver.org/32420.html Navigation bars are the signposts of the web world: we take them for granted because of their ubiquity, but we’d all have a much harder time getting around without them. On most websites, nav bars hold a position of honor near the very top of the page, meaning they’re one of the first things your users see upon entering your site. As such, there’s a lot of pressure on navigation bars to look clean, act sophisticated, and ply the client’s wife with small talk and Manhattans while you close the deal. http://tc.eserver.org/32141.html http://tc.eserver.org/32141.html In 2004, Dave Shea took the CSS rollover where it had never gone before. Now he takes it further still—with a little help from jQuery. Say hello to hover animations that respond to a user’s behavior in ways standards-based sites never could before. http://tc.eserver.org/30675.html http://tc.eserver.org/30675.html Web 2.0 is well known for the fact that it's not built on breathtaking new inventions, but rather on renewed emphasis on age-old Web technologies. One of those age-old technologies that is enjoying a revival in Web 2.0 is bookmarklets. A bookmarklet is essentially a Web application shoehorned into a regular browser bookmark. This article includes a fully functioning bookmarklet and installation instructions you can use to highlight text on any Web page and search IBM developerWorks for that text. http://tc.eserver.org/29982.html http://tc.eserver.org/29982.html One of the little known features of DHTML, at least within Internet Explorer 5.5 or above, is an attribute known as contentEditable. This attribute can be used to make areas of text within a Web page editable by the user. This is very different from a form element, such as a text box, as contentEditable can make a table cell, or a standard paragraph editable. http://tc.eserver.org/27625.html http://tc.eserver.org/27625.html One of the great pitfalls of using client side techniques, such as JavaScript, to display content on demand is the prerequisite that everything be contained in variables. This makes adding and updating the content very cumbersome. http://tc.eserver.org/27355.html http://tc.eserver.org/27355.html Asynchronous JavaScript And XML, or its acronym, Ajax (Pronounced A-jacks), is a Web development technique for creating interactive web applications. The intent is to make web pages feel more responsive by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes, so that the entire Web page does not have to be reloaded each time the user makes a change. This is meant to increase the Web page's interactivity, speed, and usability. http://tc.eserver.org/27047.html http://tc.eserver.org/27047.html In simple terms, Ajax is an approach to rendering web pages that improves a web site's appeal and usability. It enhances user interaction by targeting updates from the server to specific areas of a web page. It allows information to be changed without long delays or frustrating page refreshes. http://tc.eserver.org/26907.html http://tc.eserver.org/26907.html Ajax is an awesome technology that is driving a new generation of web apps, from maps.google.com to colr.org to backpackit.com. But Ajax is also a dangerous technology for web developers, its power introduces a huge amount of UI problems as well as server side state problems and server load problems. http://tc.eserver.org/26891.html http://tc.eserver.org/26891.html For many Web developers, making simple requests and receiving simple responses is all they'll ever need, but for developers who want to master Ajax, a complete understanding of HTTP status codes, ready states, and the XMLHttpRequest object is required. In this article, Brett McLaughlin will show you the different status codes and demonstrate how browsers handle each and he will showcase the lesser-used HTTP requests that you can make with Ajax. http://tc.eserver.org/26893.html http://tc.eserver.org/26893.html The ability to add notes and comments to your Web site can be a powerful and attractive feature for users. This tutorial demonstrates how to implement an Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX)-based user annotation system in the form of yellow sticky notes that sit on top of regular Web page content. The only additional, required configuration is a back-end Perl script that stores the annotations. http://tc.eserver.org/20185.html http://tc.eserver.org/20185.html This paper introduces neophytes to Java. It starts with Java’'s beginnings as a programming language for interactive cable TV boxes and continues through the features of optimization, platform-independence, and object-orientation that make it unique. Next, it dispels the myths surrounding Java, presents solid guidelines for when and when not to use Java, and finally examines today’s practical uses of Java, including enhancing Web pages, managing a business, and delivering sophisticated training modules capable of advanced interactions.