As a web designer or developer, you know how powerful DOM scripting is for enhancing web pages and applications, adding dynamic functionality and improving the user experience. You've got a reasonable understanding of JavaScript and the DOM, but now you want to take your skills further. This book is all you need to do so—it shows you how to add essential functionality to your web pages, such as on the fly layout and style changes, interface personalization, maps and search using APIs, visual effects using JavaScript libraries, and much more.

* Includes a quick recap of the basics, for reference purposes.

* Packed with real world JavaScript solutions from beginning to end

* Written by "Beginning Google Maps" author Jeffrey Sambells, and includes a case study by JavaScript guru Aaron Gustafson.

What you'll learn

* A quick recap of the HTML and CSS DOM, methods, and events.

* Shows you the basics of how to add dynamic effects and respond to user actions to your web sites using CSS and JavaScript.

* Introduces Ajax to the mix, showing you how to use it, and when not to use it.

* Learn best practices (such as graceful degredation) and productivity improvement via code reuse (libraries and APIs)

* Create Mashups using search, photo and mapping APIs.

* Build better, more dynamic user experiences using libraries such as Prototype and Scriptaculous.

Who is this book for?

This book is for intermediate to advanced web designers and developers who already have a reasonable to good knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

About the Author

Aaron pushed pixels and bits as a freelancer for many top companies (Aetna, Deloitte & Touche, Delta Airlines, Guinness, IBM and Scholastic, to name a few) before taking a position at Cronin and Company, a regional advertising agency. At Cronin, Aaron got the Digital department off the ground and set the standards (pun intended) for all web development within the agency. His work on websites for Bertucci's Restaurants, Konica Minolta, Mystic Aquarium, TriZetto and several Connecticut state agencies garnered numerous state, national and international awards for Cronin, for both design and web standards. In early 2006, Aaron left Cronin to focus on building his own web shop (Easy! Designs, LLC) and writing more.

In addition to being a member of the Web Standards Project (WaSP), Aaron sits on the Advisory Panel for WOW (formerly World Organization of Webmasters) and is a member of the Guild of Accessible Web Designers (GAWDS). He serves as Production Editor for A List Apart, is a contributing writer for Digital Web Magazine, and recently contributed several chapters to the newly-updated Web Design in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition (O'Reilly). Aaron has been a featured speaker at numerous conferences including COMDEX, MacWorld and SXSW and has been called on to provide web standards training in both government and corporations.

He blogs at easy-reader.net.

Jeffery is a graphic designer and self-taught web applications developer best known for his unique ability to merge the visual world of graphics with the mental realm of code. With a Bachelor of Technology degree in Graphic Communications Management along with a minor in Multimedia, Jeffrey was originally trained for the traditional paper-and-ink printing industry, but he soon realized the world of pixels and code was where his ideas would prosper. In late 1999, he cofounded We-Create, Inc., an Internet software company based in Waterloo, Ontario, which began many long nights of challenging and creative innovation.

Currently, as Director of Research and Development for We-Create, Jeffrey is responsible for investigating new and emerging Internet technologies and integrating them using web standards-compliant methods. In late 2005, he also became a Zend Certified Engineer.

When not playing at the office, Jeffrey enjoys a variety of hobbies from photography to woodworking. When the opportunity arises, he also enjoys floating in a canoe on the lakes of Algonquin Provincial Park or going on an adventurous, map-free, drive with his wife. Jeffrey also maintains a personal website at JeffreySambells.com, where he shares thoughts, ideas, and opinions about web technologies, photography, design, and more. He lives in Ontario, Canada, eh, with his wife, Stephanie, his newborn daughter, Addison, and their little dog, Milo.