JavaScript & jQuery: The Missing Manual

JavaScript lets you supercharge your HTML with animation, interactivity, and visual effects—but many web designers find the language hard to learn. This jargon-free guide covers JavaScript basics and shows you how to save time and effort with the jQuery library of prewritten JavaScript code. You’ll soon be building web pages that feel and act like desktop programs, without having to do much programming.

The important stuff you need to know:

• Make your pages interactive. Create JavaScript events that react to visitor actions.
• Use animations and effects. Build drop-down navigation menus, pop-ups, automated slideshows, and more.
• Improve your user interface. Learn how the pros make websites fun and easy to use.
• Collect data with web forms. Create easy-to-use forms that ensure more accurate visitor responses.
• Add a dash of Ajax. Enable your web pages to communicate with a web server without a page reload.
• Practice with living examples. Get step-by-step tutorials for web projects you can build yourself.

Table of Contents

Part One: Getting Started with JavaScript
Chapter 1: Writing Your First JavaScript Program
Chapter 2: The Grammar of JavaScript
Chapter 3: Adding Logic and Control to Your Programs

Part Two: Getting Started with jQuery
Chapter 4: Introducing jQuery
Chapter 5: Action/Reaction: Making Pages Come Alive with Events
Chapter 6: Animations and Effects

Part Three: Building Web Page Features
Chapter 7: Improving Your Images
Chapter 8: Improving Navigation
Chapter 9: Enhancing Web Forms
Chapter 10: Expanding Your Interface

Part Four: Ajax: Communication with the Web Server
Chapter 11: Introducing Ajax
Chapter 12: Flickr and Google Maps

Part Five: Tips, Tricks, and Troubleshooting
Chapter 13: Getting the Most from jQuery
Chapter 14: Going Further with Java­Script
Chapter 15: Troubleshooting and Debugging

Appendix A: JavaScript Resources