DOM Scripting by Jeremy Keith
Monday December 5, 2005 / 8 CommentsIn the interest of openness and honesty, I just wanted to mention that this was a free copy courtesy of Jeremy, but that there were no strings attached with regards to reviewing it.
This book should do for client-side scripting what Designing with Web Standards by Jeffrey Zeldman
Today, we finally have a friendly browser landscape and well-written markup that enables us to create progressively enhanced user interfaces that gracefully degrade in older browsers, and this book does an amazing job at showing us how we can capitalize on that.
Subject Matter
This book is not meant to be an exhaustive JavaScript reference. Instead, the book’s primary goal is to show you the correct way to write those scripts by minimizing assumptions and cleanly separating your behavior layer from your style and structure.
The focus of the last few years has been to move from table-based layout and font tags towards clean separation of style from structure. With that behind us, the next step is to embrace DOM scripting and the associated best practices to create better user experiences, and Jeremy is leading the way with this book.
Summary
Whether you’re looking to get started with JavaScript or already an expert, this book has a little bit for everyone, and if you’re serious about doing things the right way, this is an absolute must read.
If you’re looking for a definitive reference on the language itself, I suggest complementing this book with JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan
I recently read and reviewed this book, and can attest that it is one of the most pragmatic and thoroughly written web-related books I’ve ever seen. It treats JavaScript fairly, as part of a larger, wholistic approach to web design. Jeremy conceeds areas in which CSS and server-side methods do the trick better, so that one can focus on using JS for areas in which it really shines. Simply put, buy the book.
Nathan SmithYep, I second that: it’s a great book; highly recommended.
cbooneI bought it just the other day, just waiting for it to be delivered. Thanks for the review Garrett.
YannickLooks like a great suggestion. I’m gonna get it. Thanks!
MarcoI’ve also got a quick review of Jeremy’s Dom Scripting book definitely has a little bit for everyone, touting best practices.
trovsterI just purchased this book from Amazon. I’m a beginner to Javascript and i’ve been wanting to expand my knowledge.
This book is extremely good, and gives me a crystal clear picture of what the DOM is and the history of Javascript.
This is deffinently worth a read.
KyleI’m currently working through both Jeremy Keith’s book, and also Stuart Langridge’s “DHTML Utopia”, covering basically the same subject matter.
I agree that Keith’s book is comparable to Zeldman’s book on standards in terms of it’s place in the market, but a user with some basic Javascript knowledge might, in my opinion, be better served by Langridge’s book. Keith hand-holds users completely new to Javascript, which obviously won’t suit everyone.
Both good books though, that should see us all getting to grips with DOM scripting in no time.
LeeI’m about half way through the book right now, and wow, it’s seriously one of the most well written programming books I’ve ever read. Wish Jeremy knew as much about Ruby and Rails as he does about unobtrusive, accessible JavaScript and Dom Scripting.
He definitely takes his time with the book, but it’s so methodical and detail oriented in it’s approach, that you feel as though you’re picking every bit of the subject up the first time through.
Very impressed.
KyleComments are closed for this entry.