Dynamic HTML The Definitive Reference [...]... the browser makers have come and how far they have to go in providing us with compatible DHTML capabilities at a suitably high level 3 Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference, eMatter Edition Copyright © 1999 Danny Goodman All rights reserved Applying Dynamic HTML Chapter 1Applying Dynamic HTML 4 Chapter 1: The State of the Art The Standards Alphabet Soup There is no such thing as a single Dynamic HTML. .. should be rendered on the page The link between a style sheet and the content it influences is either the tag name of the HTML element that holds the content or an identifier associated with the element by way of an attribute (such as the ID or CLASS attribute) When a style sheet defines a border, the style definition doesn’t know (or care) whether the Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference, eMatter Edition... disturbing the other content or the layout of the document For the first time, HTML elements can even overlap each other A script can make elements fly around the page or it can allow the user to drag elements around the page Content can pop up out of nowhere or expand to let the viewer see more content—all without reloading the page or contacting the server As an add-on to the CSS1 effort, CSS-P functionality... therefore implements the tag and a scriptable layer object A Netscape layer is in most respects the same as a CSS-P layer, except that Netscape wanted to make it a part of the HTML syntax as well Unfortunately for Netscape and Navigator 4, the tag was not adopted by the W3C for HTML 4.0, and it is not likely that it will be added in the future Even Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference, eMatter... absolute-positioned elements degrade poorly when displayed in older browsers The positioned elements do not appear where their attributes call for, and, even worse, the elements render themselves from top to bottom in Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference, eMatter Edition Copyright © 1999 Danny Goodman All rights reserved Applying Dynamic HTML Downloadable Fonts 22 Chapter 2: Cross-Platform Compromises the. .. browser at the top of the document (isNav4 and isIE4 in Example 2-2 ) This allows scripts elsewhere in the document to make decisions based on the browser that is running the script and writing the HTML that applies to that browser Notice in Example 2-2 that the if construction writes HTML content only if one of the two global variables is true Conceivably, a user who does not have a DHTML-capable browser... fattens the following pages in the years to come Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference, eMatter Edition Copyright © 1999 Danny Goodman All rights reserved Applying Dynamic HTML If the inexorable flow of new browser versions, standards, and authoring features teaches us anything, it is that each new generation only serves to fragment further the installed base of browsers in use throughout the world... Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference, eMatter Edition Copyright © 1999 Danny Goodman All rights reserved Navigator 4 DHTML 17 The JavaScript style sheet syntax is supported only in Navigator, whereas the CSS1 syntax is supported in both Navigator and Internet Explorer CSS-Positioning Navigator supports the CSS-P recommendation as it was defined in the most recent working draft prior to the release... before the standard is published 6 Chapter 1: The State of the Art In the HTML 4.0 world, a chunk of text in a paragraph is bold because it is tagged as being an element that requires emphasis Whether it is bold or italic or green is not defined by the HTML vocabulary, per se Instead, the HTML passes the formatting decision to a style definition When the text is viewed in a browser on a video monitor, the. .. Object Model 9 The good news for authors, however, is that whether you create a positionable element via the CSS-P syntax or as a LAYER element, scripting the element on the fly is the same in Navigator The Netscape layer object exposes most of the CSS-P properties for access via scripts In contrast, Internet Explorer 4 follows the CSS-P specification very closely Including a single attribute (the position . or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. ISBN: 1-5 659 2-4 9 4-0 [1/00] [M] v Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference, eMatter Edition Copyright © 1999. mission-critical web work is as danger- ous as entrusting your life’s work to a beta version of a word processing program. Applying Dynamic HTML HTML 4.0 5 Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference, . easier. In the meantime, the following sections provide a snapshot of the various stan- dards and their implementation in browsers as they relate to the technologies that affect DHTML. HTML 4.0 The