JavaScript for the World Wide Web, Fifth Edition (Visual QuickStart Guide)

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I've just started using this one myself, and so far, it's proven to be an invaluable reference. I used to think JavaScript was a difficult and laborious language to learn, especially since the only coding I know is HTML, a little BASIC and some MUSH code (I'm not a programmer, can you tell? *grin*) After paging through the first few chapters of this book, and even jumping around a bit, it's not so much of a mystery anymore, and I now have a correct perception of this popular scripting language, as well as a decent working knowledge. Following the excellent path forged by other titles in the series, this guide is written in a candid, easy to understand manner. Best of all, just like the VQS Guide to HTML4, another of my favorites recommended elsewhere on this site, it's got a companion web site with all of the samples as well as further exercises. Don't waste your time reading thick books full of information you'll never use. Try this one and get to work writing JavaScript immediately. Once you get started and become better versed in the language, you'll want to keep the book nearby as an easy to use reference source.

Try as you might to take a class in JavaScript or implement scripts by using online resources, it remains on your to do list. You search the Internet for the scripts and can never find the exact one you want or even close enough to do tweaking. Perhaps, it's time to try an alternative and just buy a book on the subject and dive in.

This book is for beginners and intermediates who are comfortable with HTML and lack the time to learn how to implement JavaScript from scratch or without resources. Negrino and Smith set up the book by the "things" you want your Web site to do rather than walk you through all the definitions, objects, operators, syntax, and all that stuff that would make the non-programmer's eyes glaze over. There are other books that serve that purpose.

Open the book and go to the table of contents, find what you need, and start adding it to your Web pages. Screenshots and lines of code are on every page of the book with step-by-step guidelines of how to use and implement the script. You don't even have to type the code from scratch. Instead, go to the book's companion Web site to get the code and fix it up to meet your needs - a great time saver.

If you own an earlier edition of the book, this one has 100 more pages of new material including new chapters on 7 - Forms and Regular Expressions, 11 - CSS, 13 - User Interface Design with JavaScript, 14 - Applied JavaScript, and 15 - Bookmarklets. Furthermore, the scripts in the older editions have been revised to ensure compliance with current Web standards.

Chapter 7 - Forms and Regular Expressions show how to validate email addresses, file names, and URLs. It gives you a gentle introduction to regexes (regular expressions). Don't panic at the thought of them especially with the handy table of expressions and associated characters. Once you try them out, you'll wonder what you ever did without them.

Chapter 13 - User Interface Design with JavaScript gives you the opportunity to create pull-down and sliding menus. Chapter 14 - Applied JavaScript has directions for creating a slideshow with captions and generating bar graphs.

Colorful additions to the book are the Object Flowchart and Object Table printed in color to show you which objects are compatible with which browsers. The flowchart may be a challenge for beginners, but the table makes up for it by listing the object along with its properties, methods and event handlers.

If you're looking to get cooking with JavaScript, look no further than this cookbook with easily modifiable recipes. It belongs on the Web designer's reference shelf.

I have found this book *extremely* helpful in integrating certain JavaScript elements into web pages (using the authors' web site which supplements the material in the book is essential, however.)I would highly recommend it to someone with little or no JavaScript knowledge. I think most of the negative reviews (the ones that rate it a star or two because it's "not for serious programmers") are missing the point. If you want to go on a trip to Mexico and need to learn some Spanish quickly to help you survive, you pick up a phrase book by Berlitz or some such publisher. Learning the entire grammar of the Spanish language would be a waste of time for this purpose. Likewise, if you want to read Cervantes in the original, memorizing how order a meal in a restaurant isn't going to help you much. I think the analogy holds true for this book - if you want to journey into the land of JavaScript, this is a good phrase book to help you get along (the authors themselves even encourage you to copy-and-paste many of the commands from their web site so you don't even have to do the typing.) If you want to delve into the grammar of the language, this book would be limited for that purpose.

The VIsual Quickstart Guide series masterfully achieves what is implied by it's name... it gets you started fast and there are lots of visual references (screenshots and code samples) throughout.

If you're already savvy in JavaScript, the text might be a little too elementary, but it's doubtful that a master at JavaScript would be interested in a book w/ this title to begin with.

Just enough info to accomplish the most commonly desired scripts (alert boxes, image roll-overs, clocks, etc.) without overloading the beginner with too many overwhelming projects that are beyond the scope of an intro to the scripting language.

The book is written equally to Macintosh users as well as Windows users and there are screenshots of JavaScript functions from each platform. It's rare that a mainstream book, especially a relatively inexpensive one, covers both platforms. The book also covers both Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator/Communicator so that the beginner realizes the limitations that the 2 top platforms and 2 top browsers bring into play. This helps beginners from designing scripts that are only viewable with the same configuration that he/she has, unknowingly excluding other viewers.

This book is an apple, not an orange, so don't call it an orange. It's not a comprehensive guide to the esoteric ins and outs of JavaScript. That's what O'Reilly's JavaScript: the Definitive Guide is for. This book --- like all the books in the excellent Visual QuickStart Guide series --- is aimed at getting you into the topic and doing stuff with it quickly. The other books like the O'Reilly book (which would leave a beginner pulling her hair out) are for later.

The examples in this book show you the most common uses of JS and provide sample scripts (which are available for download on the companion web site). The newer, 3d. ed. of the book adds a significant amount of additional information, and is worth the price of admission (I also owned the 2d. ed.). It gets you doing cool stuff with Javascript quickly. That simplicity is its strength and also one of my complaints about it.

The examples are not often very flexible. They do one thing well (which is described quickly and in a manner in which you can easily understand), but its not always easy to modify the script to similar uses. And, because it's how it is, it doesn't teach you enough to understand the theory of the JS you're using, so you rarely understand how to modify those scripts. BUT, as I said above, that's beyond the scope of this book.

One example: in the doing things with windows chapter, there are scripts for opening and closing a second window from within the main window. Great scripts and they work well. But, if you want to open the new window from the main window, then close the new window from the new window (not the main window), too bad, because it doesn't show you how to do that.

But, on that point, I'm starting to lean in the direction of calling this book an orange.

For absolute beginners: it's a must, and is probably the best introduction to JavaScript. For Intermediate JavaScripters, its hit or miss, so check it out thoroughly (though it's still a great quick reference for when you forget something). For advanced JavaScript and JS applications, check out one of the O'reilly reference works.

The JavaScript Visual Quickstart Guide has generated split reviews. Some people loved it and some others absolutely hate it. I'm about done with it, and here's what I have to say:
As far as learning the basics and the theory of JavaScript goes, this book is a disappointment. You won't be ready to generate your own codes from scratch unless your project is similar to the examples given in the book and require minor revisions. The style of the book is:
To achieve task A, type in code A.
To achieve task B, type in code B, etc..
If you're lucky, what you want to do matches one of the countless example codes in the book. The codes are explained very vaguely. For example in one of the codes, a 'return true' statement appears out of nowhere. The return concept has not been explained in the book, and the authors do not make clear where 'true' is being returned to and what consequences it will have. The explanation they have is: You need the 'return true' statement here to make sure the code will work. So, the book has a cut and paste approach, which rightfully upset some readers. But if you read the 'further reading' section at the end of the book, the authors admit that their book is intended for people who just want a code to work quick, and don't care why it works. I wish they made this clear in the foreword, so readers like me who actually want to learn JavaScript could look elsewhere.
As far as the 'copy this code, and it'll work' approach goes, the book is great. The authors claim that their upcoming book:'JavaScript Advanced Visual Quickstart Guide' will focus on the background of the language. That book may be worth a shot.

I am a huge fan of the Visual Quickstart series. They do a wonderful job teaching the basics, whether it be PhotoShop or HTML. Generally, they also provide more than enough information to progress to more in-depth training on a particular subject matter. I can not, however, recommend Javascript for the World Wide Web. I found this book confusing at best, lacking in substance, and poorly ordered with no logical progession in the lessons. This book is great provided all you want is some code to copy onto your page...the codes do work, but it falls short when it comes to providing a basic understanding of the language, it's syntax, and underlying principles. I had much more luck with web-based tutorials. I can not tell you where to look for a good beginning Javascript manual, but I can say that this book isn't it.

I needed to learn JavaScript fast as a pre-requisite for a training course I was taking in two weeks. This book came through in a big way. It covered the basics quickly, in an easy-to-read style. Downloading the scripts from the accompanying web site was a real time-saver. I didn't waste time copying code. Instead, I played-around with the downloaded scripts and studied how my changes affected the results. I also had the "HTML For The World Wide Web" book on hand. The two books makes a great combo for quick learning. You need to understand what you're buying with this JavaScript book. If you need an in-depth guide or reference book, then this is not it - but then again, it doesn't claim to be. It served my purpose perfectly.

JAVASCRIPT FOR THE WORLD WIDE WEB is a good book for teaching Javascript programming to people who have no real interest in learning how to program. As one has probably gathering from surfing the web, there are a lot of Javascript-enabled Web pages put together by people who have absolutely no idea about how to program a script. This book was made for people like that, who have no desire to move beyond Javascript into the world of more advance programming languages (and contains a lot of stuff that would make those badly designed Web pages work a whole lot better). It's a slim volume (252 pages plus appendixes), so you shouldn't be expecting to find very detailed coverage of the language here. It concentrates on the material that the majority of web-page designers are going to be using, so unless you're planning on becoming an expert in Javascript, the information provided here should be more than adequate for anything that you want to do.

Keep in mind that this is a book primarily for beginners to the field. You don't even have to know much HTML, which is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it forces the book to explain most of the functionality that you will need to know, but a curse because it holds back from dealing with more advanced functions. Hardcore, experienced programmers are not the book's intended audience, so the gaps in its information are not as harmful as they would otherwise be. The subjects that it does cover are explained reasonably well and should be simple enough for most people to understand.

Unfortunately, there are a handful of places where the book assumes the reader to have more knowledge than a beginner would likely have. To an experienced programmer, these omissions would not be the slightest problem, but the book seems to be geared more towards novices. Basic programming concepts like loops and conditionals are mentioned, and briefly explained, but don't provide quite enough elaboration for someone who has never had any experience with such things before. This really only happens in a few isolated areas, but it could probably frustrate a beginner.

The major topics that this book covers are: images, frames, browser windows, cookies, forms, plug-ins, and dynamic Web pages. The book covers other areas as well as providing a basic introduction to basic programming languages that may not be quite in-depth as it should be. It runs the risk of falling between two stools; the advanced user will definitely find this inadequate, but the novice may find a few parts too complicated. Fortunately, gaps in the fundamentals are few and far between. Once the book gets into the heart of its Javascript coverage, the beginning programmer will find lots to learn.

If you just want to know about how to put Javascript bells and whistles on your Web page, then you could do a lot worse than this book. It's far too superficial for the experienced programmer, or for the reader planning on gaining more depth; so if you fall into those categories, then you pay want to purchase something else (I'd recommend O'Reilly's JAVASCRIPT: THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE). But for the subjects that the book does explain, it does a fairly good job. Recommended mainly for novices, but also for intermediates who only have select uses for Web-based Javascript.

I have to agree with Robert from Philly above -- this book is good for copying code that you need for your site but NOT for teaching you how to use JavaScript, despite the fact that the front cover claims that you can "teach yourself JavaScript the quick and easy way!... You'll be up and running in no time!" Well, you cannot teach yourself JavaScript with any depth of understanding with this book and the only way you can be "up and running" is by copying their code into your HTML document. Right at the beginning of the text there is a brief section (5 pages) describing what objects, properties, methods, event handlers, and variables/values are, but then the text jumps right into complex code for specific functions with general explanations of the details and barely any explanation of the syntax, as if the authors just EXPECT that you will want to copy the code for your own personal use instead of understand it. I was very, very disappointed in this book that was recommended to me by a JavaScript teacher.

I am one of the most impatient programmers on the face of the earth. In fact, I have been in professional services for years because it takes to long to realize results with traditional programming. Web development has sucked me back into the fray, and I enjoy the immediacy of the langugages involved. Code it -- look at it! Works perfectly for me! However, I am now a senior analyst, and nothing in my job description calls for these skills.

As the new director of technology (website guru) for my professional association, I found myself at a loss. I know HTML, and a smattering of java, but knew nothing about PHP, CSS, real JAVA programming or MySQL, which are the basis for our group's website. I took over in January of 2006, with a major symposium scheduled for March 2006. Everything and it's grandmother needed to be released on that site, which had been neglected over the past year (the old DOT was sent to Iraq!). In short order, I needed to know it all and do it all. This same review will be used for the Java and PHP/MySQL books. THESE BOOKS ARE A LIFESAVER! From building forms in HTML (I had never had to do this before), to creating style sheets, to writing java code to manipulating the MySQL database with PHP files, I have found the instructions so clear and easy to use that when I am in a hurry, I can just do stuff. Later, I can go back to the book to understand what I did, how it was actually done, and why it was successfully. When I really take my time, the tutorials are invaluable.

Obviously, I recommend this book. Novices will be led gently by the hand; the more experienced will find better ways of doiing things, and the impatient can get it done quickly. Excellent deal.

JavaScript for the World Wide Web does not offer anything extraordinary in regards to the JavaScript (ECMAScript) language. This book focuses on simple web tricks that are simply out of season for modern web design and programming. There is hardly, if at all, coverage of programming with modern browsers like IE6, Opera 7, and Mozilla and with web standards from W3C, nor is there mention of non-web programming usages of JavaScript (ECMAScript) like for .NET, Acrobat, Flash.

So if you want to do little web tricks that was popular with Netscape 3 and Netscape 4 from almost a decade ago (frames, forms, images, etc.), then this book is for you. If you want to program for modern applications including modern web browsers, then you'll have to look elsewhere as this book is a waste of time, even it was for free.

This is basically a compilation of various scripts you could copy in order to emulate their funcionality on your website. And the scripts all work fairly well, for the most part.

But don't expect this book to teach you how to create scripts on your own. You won't gain an understanding of what your copied scripts are *actually* doing because this book doesn't really teach you any of the *concepts* of Javascript, only the results of using pre-packaged scripts.

I can't even really recommend it as an introduction, since the style of object-oriented programming involved with Javascript is not at all amenable to such a "quick recipe" style of tutorial. I don't really have anything against this type of pedagogical approach...it just doesn't seem to work well with this particular scripting language. It worked great with HTML, but...this is a far cry from a markup language.

If you need a quick patch to your site and aren't interested in gaining transferable skills from your work, then go for it. Get the book and copy to your heart's content. Otherwise, go for the O'Reilly publications.

I maintain content for a corporate extranet. I have often implemented JavaScript scripts and made some modifications. However, I had never really understood how the scripts worked. I got this book and "Beginning JavaScript" by Paul Wilton, so I could learn the nuts and bolts. After reading this I started to actually understand the scripts I was implementing. I recommend that beginners start by reading the Visual Quickstart (VQ) book and then move onto something more indepth like Wilton's book. VQ is an excellent concise introduction to the basics of JavaScript. It gives a quick explanation of things such as event handlers, methods, properties, functions and loops. You should be able to finish this book in a couple of weeks and have a solid understanding of the basics of JavaScript. However, you will then need something more indepth to truly learn to program complex JavaScripts.

This book was excellent. I was reading some of the reviews. I think it is ideal if you want to learn JavaScript. If you want to just copy codes then you need to purchase a Javascript cookbook. I love the quickstart guides and I find these really great quick references. They are easy to read and understand, they speak in my language and cut out what you don't need to bother with. If you have a question this makes finding the answer very quick, real easy, and I know I couldn't live without it!

I found this book extremely useful when I first started learning Javascript, because of the ample number of examples followed up with codes, eye ease presentation and omission of boring text and useless explanations.

When I had started to study Javascript in more programming depth, I discovered that the book was very weak in conveying the meaning of the programming language.

This book is laid out in an "Action A - Code A", "Action B - Code B", "Action C - Code C",...In other words, you must follow the static examples used in the book where I had a lot of trouble in figuring out how to edit certain variables to my purposes. This book does not get you into the heart of Javascript, making it nearly impossible for a novice to produce a code out of creativity. This book is also great for impatient people, and dyslexic readers.

Overall, if you're a novice, this book is the best there is on Javascript and is the easiest to learn some simple codes from; if you're a programmer wanting to learn the language, I'm sorry, it would be money down the drain if you buy this book.

Peachpit's Visual Quickstart Guides are excellent. But you can't learn JavaScript from this book. You can copy what's already there but you won't understand it. Programming concepts are either glossed over or ignored and there just aren't enough examples for everyday applications.

This book helped give me a fast start and gave me what I needed to know quickly. I like the website as well. It's a good book for a beginner. Like many people, I know this will not be the only java script book I buy, but I am sure glad it was the first.

If you expect to get detailed instruction in the basics of coding from every programming book you buy, then avoid this book. If you have the crazy notion that you're going to code an entire system solely in JavaScript, then you probably should opt for a different JavaScript book than this one.

However, if you already know how to code, and you are interested in just using JavaScript to do the stuff it's good for (client-side field validation, rollovers, cookies, etc.) then get this book. It's inexpensive and it's got great code examples that anyone with a modicum of coding intelligence can extend and modify to their own application. The same cannot be said for the O'Reilly JavaScript book, which is a lengthy, expensive, and relatively useless text, except as a reference for JS methods and properties.

This book, along with several other Visual QuickStart Guides, are essential reading for any Newby. They provide a great introduction to get anyone started producing Web content. I had some VB and C++ experience, but no web design experience. After reading HTML 4, Dreamweaver 2, DHTML, and Javascript VQS's, I have created a 50 Pg., 175 pg., and 2,500 pg. sites in about two months. In addition, I taught my 65 y.o. mother to create her own site with the help of the VQS series. Don't hesitate, buy these books (great price here at Amazon.com). They also have great companion websites. Once you get started, then look at the "Bible" series or another reference book. Good-luck. P.S. - I don't work for nor am compensated by the publisher.

I've browsed through several "how to" books on JavaScript and found most of them full of detail. Wonderful, but for a relative "newbie", it can be overwhelming at times. This book makes the learning curve short and makes programming fun.

In the past, I tried to figure out how they did that - looking at the source code. I'd paste in some code and spend hours trying to figure out why it didn't work. I've been to many JavaScript sites and picked up scripts here and there, but I needed a single source to speak to me in plain English.

I bought this book mainly as a primer - assuming I'd have to buy one of those huge ones later. This one has surprised me in that it seems to cover more than I want to know, and it seems to make the learning process easy. At this point, I've tried most of the simple scripts and I'm getting into the more complicated ones. I'm still understanding what I'm doing, and that helps me get the results I'm looking for.

Well laid out and seems to have the reader in mind - Keeps true to the title of the book - good diagrams, and aimed at someone who wants to get STARTED in JavaScript. An excellent book!

This book has alot of examples for accomplishing different tasks but was very light on explaining concepts and even syntax sometimes. My very first javascript program was to create an HTML table with dynamic content and it was quite difficult with this book. I'm not exactly sure what purpose a book like this serves unless you find a pre-written script that closely meets your needs. I recommend that you keep looking if you want a helpful javascript book. Using this book to create your own script was much too aggravating!

One of the most important aspects of any new language, be it spoken, written, or software-based, is the syntax and usage rules. This book, while advertised for the beginner and intermediate, skips over this most crucial aspect of learning javascript and delves immediately into example programming. I was on my third chapter, still waiting for the detailed discussion of javascript syntax before I realized that the two or so odd pages in chapter one was all I was going to get. I have spent hours trying to decipher their example code because I do not understand the fundamental constructs of the objects, methods, and event handlers. I am learning javascript, but mostly due to my existing knowledge of C and C++, not because of any teaching from this book. Short of copying the example code verbatim, I think most beginner and intermediate users will find that they do not have the understanding of javascript in which to solve unique problems on their web pages. If an exact example is not in the book, they will be unable to use their knowledge of javascript to deduce a solution. I found this book very disappointing, especially after really enjoying this "visual" approach in Elizabeth Castro's HTML for the World Wide Web. Advanced javascript users will undoubtedly pick up clever programming ideas from this book, but if you are actually trying to LEARN this language, you will be disappointed.

I have purchased this book and found it well worth its price. It contains a wealth of information that enabled me to incorporate javascript into my projects "on the fly" in one day. My previous experience utilizing javascript before buying this book: none. The examples are clearly written and easy to understand. I rate it 5 stars because I found it that helpful. This book, along with subsequent editions to it, will always have a place in my reference library.

I am fairly new to Java and JavaScript. This is the easiest, fastest way to get started with JavaScript. I wasted alot of cash on Java related material and this was the best money I've spent. A very good book for beginers!

On the plus side, the explanations are fairly straightforward (my eyes didn't glaze over like they normally do when I read javascript books). On the minus side, the code in the book sometimes leaves out itty-bitty stuff like semi-colons which will render your code worthless. It's best to go to the site and download the code rather than type in the code as written in the book. Then you won't spend time hitting yourself over the head wondering why your code doesn't work.

I was able to understand what was going on in the explanations, but I wasn't necessarily able to modify code that relied on mathematical random generator formulas.

This book does anything but help you learn JavaScript. Especially if you are new to the concept. I have some Visual Basic skills and this book just threw me for a loop. This book does show you a lot about what JavaScript can do HOWEVER it is easier to just download the scripts from there web site (www.javascriptworld.com) because they do a poor job explaining their concepts!!!! For example Page 23 of the sample pages (located here on Amazon) gives a line of code and this is the first example: "document. write ("hello, world")". What does "document" mean and what does "write" mean if you have never seen JavaScript or VB before. Here's their explanation. "Here's you first line of JavaScript: it takes the document window and writes "hello, world" into it". Shouldn't they tell you what document means? And what "write" means? This is how they continue throughout their book. They do not give you enough information to write your own scripts!!! So then what is the point??? I am glad I padding their pocket so they can show off the scripts that they have created. BOTTOM LINE: DON'T BOTHER!

If you want a good series of books, one that goes through the code line by line explaining everything then I would recommend WROX Press Beginning JavaScript. I am in now way affiliated with WROX. I have been very satisfied every time I have read one of their books.

This book is for the beginner who likes to take code and tweak it to see if they can get the same result with a little twist. I found the book very informative and have the scripts ready to use.

As for all the reviews that hammer on all JavaScript books relating it to Netscape and not Internet Explorer, wake up. Javascript was created for Netscape by Netscape. Hey I only use IE but understand why Netscape is the browser of choice for Javascript.

I would recommend the book for simplier scripts but if you are ready to learn the full language, get this book as a book of your series and not just it alone.

You people are all raising stink about this book and I wanna tell you you're very wrong about that. It's a beginning book, very reasonably priced, and, what you not one of you noticed, very nicely printed! O'Reilly books don't even have any screenshots, not to mention different colors, and O'Reilly books ain't bad overall. I like how Peach Press makes their books and this one is very, very good for someone who'd just starting (or, let me add, doesn't need all that much. After all there is about five gazillion 'nifty little' languages and you just can't "master" them all coz there's just so much time in life.) It's a good book to get a gist of how javascript is and how to do some basic things with it. I'm gonna look at some other Peach Print books now, coz I like how they look and they're not expensive.

This book is not a resource for programmers or even those who are learning to program-- it is ok if you are too lazy or clueless to swipe a script from another site, but if you want to learn the how and why of JavaScript it is a total waste. . . Buy a reference guide and work through it. . .

The only reason I chose this book was because of the price, and I guess you get what you pay for.

This book is for beginners, but it is still extremely elementary. The amount of interesting information is very limited. It covers the basic elements and tricks with Javascript, but nothing with much depth or significance. The book is littered with empty columns, and extraneously repetitive HTML code in examples.

Even for beginner, the example codes - while providing simple functionalities - look more complex than they need to be. Things that can be comfortably coded on one line gets expanded into its own function doing more than it really needs.

That said, for absolute beginner, this can be a non-intimidating starter guidebook, but be prepared to get another book to do anything more than superficial Javascripting. Things it does cover include syntax, image rollovers, form validation and regex, and some DHTML.

Ultimately, where this book lost two stars is in its failure as a referenceable book. It is simply much too difficult to find things you need inside the book. Even if you know what you want to do, and you are in need of a particular line of code, you will have to leaf through pages of stuff.

It does have a redeeming feature, which is a pretty complete table on Javascript objects. It also has a 7 page CSS2 reference.

Javascript can get very tricky and complex fast. I'm getting another book.

Another great Visual QuickStart book by Peach Press! I bought this book because it's required for my JavaScript class, but it's a book I would have bought anyway. I'm glad the teacher chose this book to use. Very user friendly, easy to find what you're looking for, new code is colored so you can easily follow along. And of course, all the codes are on their website to download, along with other help. The authors have done a wonderful job of explaining JavaScript. This book is great for beginners or the more experienced. You definitely get more than your money's worth with this one! Don't hesitate to buy it!

It seems to me that most of these scripts don't work. I'm in IT and also a web site administrator, and I still can't get them to work as they are written. I give the authors a 3 for being motivated enough to write the book, though. It seems that they have good intentions.

I have two other Javascript books and have used on-line resources from time to time. I found this fifth edition to be a worthy addition. It isn't intended to be the ultimate comprehensive book, nor does it target the advanced scripter who wants the latest in tips and tricks. As it says in the introduction, the authors "concentrate on showing you how to get useful tasks done with JavaScript without a lot of extraneous information." The "Where to Learn More" section directs you to an excellent sampling of on-line resources that more than adequately addresses what you might find lacking in this book.

There are lots of practical examples and there is a companion site on-line where you can check out the examples and access the code for copy and pasting.

Since there are so many different ways to do things with JavaScript, you may or may not like the choices the authors make in the examples but you can't go far wrong imitating their style.

The language is clear and easy for me to understand, which really helps.

Javascript can be really frustrating compared to some other languages because there is zero tolerance for error and the error messages generated are of such little help in identifying the problem. The tips this book offers on debugging are worth way more than the price of the book!

If you want clear, concise explanations and examples of Javascript, this is the book. I looked at dozens of books at the bookstore and this is the one that I finally chose to spend my money on.

The main feature that I found helpful was the use of red type in the script examples to highlight the topic being covered. That makes the differences in the code jump out. Other Javascript books stick to black-and-white text where you have to hunt through both the html and script text to see what's being described.

I also found this book's concise, example oriented approach to be more appropriate to my programming needs since I just want a brief explanation of the function with an example or two. What I don't need is another 500 page compendium of Javascript taking up space on my bookshelf. This Javascript Visual Start Guide is a nicely manageable 290 pages of useful and well-indexed information.

I tried to use this book in my classes but found it lacking. It presents a lot of techniques but doesn't teach the concepts well. There is a lot of code but the formatting is inconsistent with haphazard line breaks and wraps. Many of my students inadvertently entered extra line breaks which made their code break. For code intensive books, the full width of the page is needed and the display should mirror that of a typical text editor. All the HTML tags in the book are in upper case whereas students today need to get in the habit of writing lowercase tags for compatibility with XHTML and XML in the future. If you are serious about learning good programming habits, this book is not for you.

If, like me, you already know a little basic HTML but you're still pretty new to designing web sites, then this book will be perfect for you. I decided to try it because I'd had good experiences with two other books from the Visual QuickStart series published by Peachpit Press. This one also proved to be a winner - easy to understand and fun to use. In just a very short time, I learned enough to make by web pages much more interactive and exciting. The sample scripts are great. I've downloaded and customized half a dozen of them. Just the section on "More Effective Rollovers" would be worth the entire price of the book, but I've also learned a lot about working with frames, controlling the size and position of new windows, creating pull-down menus, validating information obtained by forms, and using DHTML to create special effects.

I only started learning HTML and publishing web pages about two years ago. Before that, my computer skills consisted of nothing more than being able to use a word processing application and a spreadsheet program - that was all - I had no programming experience. As a web page author, I'm entirely self-taught and not a techie, so if I can use this book to good advantage, then almost anyone can! I recently got my first paying job as a web site designer, largely on the strength of some pages which I had "jazzed up" with JavaScripting from this book. I heartily recommend it!

(The other two excellent books from this same series are "HTML for the World Wide Web, 4th Edition" and "Perl and CGI for the World Wide Web, 2nd Edition," both by Elizabeth Castro. I recommend them also!)

Don't buy this book to learn Javascript. You won't. Peachpit Press to some extent has a reputation of distributing fine books in the Visual Quickstart Guide (VQG) series for novice and intermediate students of programming languages. I should know, I own about fifteen in the serires. This book by Negrino and Smith, however, falls very short of the mark compared with other books in the VQG series (say those by Elizabeth Castro and others). The book lacks step-by-step explanation (with which VQG readers have become familiar) of Javascript structure, commands, do's and don't's, and so on. Instead, it appears to be a poorly organized assortment of their favorite scripts, which are meaningless to the beginner. The design of the appendices is ludricrous. The index is incomplete. I am glad I learned at least some Javascript before buying the book. I bought the book to enhance my beginner's knowledge. If I relied on this book as my first introduction, I would have given up in frustration at the start. Just because someone is an"expert" in a language doesn't mean they can write a book or teach someone else that language. I am just glad I didn't purchase the other VQG written by these authors.

I bought this book when I worked as a Web Developer during last summer which involved lots of both server side and client side programming. This book DOES NOT explain the core concepts in Javascript eg. the DOM - Document Object Model, the proper way of writing cookies, and omits too much what a programer has to know. It only give you some examples and expect you to understand the whole concept. I believe any of the tutorials online is MUCH better than this book.

This one is another Visual Quick Start winner. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the series, Visual Quick Start books combine simple step-by-step instructions with visual examples of code and output. This book like others in the series is easy for novices and a handy reference for seasoned programmers.

"JavaScript for the World Wide Web" organizes its lessons by tasks. The easier tasks (such as creating a screen that says "Hello World") preceed the more difficult ones (such as testing the user's browser for various plugins). But essentially, a person can read the basic chapters to develop a foundation and then skip ahead to the desired task.

Another added benefit of this book is that the authors update it with common user errors. I was having a lot of trouble with one section and found to my delight that the Tip provided on that page addressed my error directly. This is a welcome change from something like the For Dummies series which sometimes has obnoxious callouts that don't help you at all.

A word of warning about programming in JavaScript. If you are using a Web Editor it might prioritize the placement of certain HTML tags regardless of where you put them. As a result, it might place an object such as a named image in front of the code that declares the object. As a result, your script will work on a PC which is too fast to account for such an error, but not on the Internet which is slow enough to catch it. Try to write your HTML in a text editor as much as possible or at least understand the quirks of your Web Editor.

As a programming novice who did not know JavaScript a few months ago, I rate this book highly.

Excellent book!!!

I am recommending this book, not only to my students, but espcially to my friends who shy away from scripting/programming books due to excessive use of "jargon". As an instructor, I find that most books turn the reader off by talking over their heads.

The book is written in plain, easy to comprehend English. This is the perfect way to introduce beginners and non-programmers to JavaScript. It's rare to find a book that does not make programming sound like molecular-biology.

Before I start, I want to mention that I am a beginner. I found this book extremely helpful -- I was coding within the first 5 minutes of opening this book. As I went through the chapters, I noticed the explanations began to thin out as the functions grew in complexity. However, the gaps were easily filled thanks to the internet. Surprisingly the author does not embellish upon the topics discussed in the book on the books companion website. Instead I used Netscape's Javascript Guide website ............,all the gaps were filled without any confusion. Throughout the rest of my reading, I was constantly checking the above mentioned website for more details -- and every single time the website delivered. In sum, the book is great, but the reading and programming objectives become clearer and more enjoyable when used with the web.

I agree with the other reviewer who described it as a phrase book. If you are wanting to learn about Java and JavaScripting, this is not the book for you. If you are building webpages and developing "on the fly" - this is exactly what you need. You come to this book with a specific task in mind and it will tell you how to do that task right now. Most of the features I have seen on "cool" sites like loading multiple frames at once, building slide shows, combining a rollover with an image map and the use of cookies are all here. Plus there are many topics more advanced than any web design I have done (like working with DHTML and forms).

This book lets you produce like a true geek without necessarily being one.

I got this book because the people who published this book also published a great HTML book. But this book is very confusing, doesn't have enough commands, and NOTHING I TRIED WORKED! In this command, function newWindow(). What's the parantheses for? It didn't say. The only thing I liked about this book is that they told the difference between JavaScript and Java.

You can't even do the first example in the book without referring to the companion website for the accurate script. Also, the authors neatly skip over the difference in their examples between what the operators are and what is specific to their example. Not a good idea for a Quickstart Guide, my impression of which is that it's supposed to be a starting point for new users... definitely not the case here. I am in the market for a new book on JavaScript, because this one just did not work for me.

The material is covered using examples which are often too printed to small to read. Also, the DOM (Document Object Model) which is the core for using Javascript professionally is all but ignored.

I think this book is for the people who dont have a clue about any programming language and just want to know what the so called javascript is. I am an experienced programmer and I bought this book because I wanted to learn Javascript, instead I just got a book that says "You do this by putting this on the Web" Why you have to do that ? Figure it out by yourself. Is a "Quick" Start, so quick that at the end you dont learn anything.
I now have it as a Quick Reference, if I want to do something just go to the book and copy the code from there, and no idea why.

This book is certainly less daunting than most JavaScript books available today--which was the initial reason I bought it (plus, it was about 1/2 the price of other books I was looking at)--and for good reason: while it is very clear, easy to read and understand, the book is more or less designed to give you code that you can paste onto a web page (along with a basic understanding of how the code works). This book will NOT provide with the ability to create your own scripts, nor (quite possibly) the ability to understand the language fully.

I have been able to use a number of the scripts presented within the book, some of which I was able to modify and expand upon (with the help of other sources). In this sense, the book has been very helpful, useful and worth my while. I do, however, often find myself having to turn to other online sources to answer "real" questions regarding JavaScript--I would recommend, that if you are looking for a surface understanding of JavaScript (and the ability to get a couple of cool scripts up an running pronto) this is the book for you; if you want to be able to create your OWN scripts and understand the language, buy a different one.

How can you teach JavaScript language rules when all you do is show cookbook type examples that aren't even worth your time? The explanation is terrible; the variable uses are extremely difficult to follow. This book lacks all sense of logic and that is all that a programming language is.

This book is more about getting the reader motivated about all the cool things you can do with javascript. For that it is excellent.

What this book is not: This book does not go in to super detail (as the other Visual Quickstart Guide series books) in terms of explaining each line of code. In order to understand each line of code you will need to be familiar with beginning basic programming concepts.

Only then, will you be able to extrapolate the information to write your own javascripts.

If you need a line by line description of how and why each line of code works the way it does, by all means buy a definitive guide or a "Javascript Bible-type book".

To reiterate this book is intended to start motivating you to want to know more. It is book one of two at the beginner level.

Just remember you have to start at the start if you are beginning not at the end. If that describes you then, by all means purchase this book.

I recommend this book highly as a Javascript starter kit because you don't have to read through 1000 pages and three months later learn how to do something with javascript.

This book is poorly structured, inaccurate and a waste of time for anyone who wants to learn what Javascript can do. As an experienced programmer in a number of languages, I was completely baffled by some of the examples, until I realised that they were just plain bad programming.

I can honestly say that this book set back my first attempt to get a website up and running by about two weeks, that being the length of time I spent attempting to get any sense out of it.

Nothing is explained properly, the index might as well belong to another book and few, if any, of the examples represented anything I might conceivably want to do. I was fooled by the introduction!

Best description of what object oriented programming is, in simple language. Learning by example, which suits my learning style.

To comment on the comment from "Garfield fan", the parentheses are described on page 6.

I love this book because it is just what I need - a "Guide" that gives me a "Quickstart" coding "Javascript" and uses "Visual" aids. That might be why Peachpit calls it a "Visual Quickstart Guide" instead of "The Fixated Geek's Complete Bible of Javascript".

After reading the introduction to this book in the bookstore, I thought it would be perfect for me. The intro raves about all the great interactive features of JS, but the book doesn't provide examples of these features. Also, this book does not explain how the actual script is generated, it merely provides you with readymade scripts to cut and paste, which is fine except that the book is so thin you only get so many JS features. Also, most of the JS functions described in this book are cheesey and purely for show (i.e. shadows, moving text, alternating backgrounds). Although the authors admit that these features are tacky, they litter the book with them. How about providing some scripts for doing calculations on the fly?

There are a gazillion books on JavaScript and short tutorials, etc. in various books about the Web, but "JavaScript for the WWW (Visual Quickstart Guide)" just jumped right out of the crowd, and I knew it was the right book for me.

I think I have a pretty good sense of usability, and I know that my gut feeling about books is generally right on. This one is excellent!!

I'm not much for programming and scripting, although I have done it (FORTRAN and Basic, some years ago), and I do understand the concepts for object oriented programming (I designed the documentation for Microsoft's C/C++ 7.0). The layout of this book, with it's two equal mirrored columns (on facing pages); one for graphics and one for text, is my favorite design for a Quickstart Guide. I'm not intimidated by the idea of scripting with JavaScript, now that I have this book. I've even taken to reading it in the bathtub, a sacred rite, usually reserved for novels by Walker Percy, etc.

I've been designing software documentation for about 8 years, a good portion of that at Microsoft (Windows 3.0, MS-DOS 5, networks, Multimedia Development Kit, etc); over 100 books for more than 25 products. Tech Docs R Us! I've never written to anyone, telling them how much I like their books, but I had to write Tom and Dori. There's so much garbage out there that a good technical doc deserves a good review. This book gets 5 mice and a hardy hand clasp.

My own learning style tends toward experimentation: I'll read a part of a manual that seems interesting, even if it's in the middle of the book someplace, then try it out on my Mac, make mistakes and go back and reference the text again, and give it another try. The design of this book allows me to do this easily, and I really appreciate that. I learned how to use the first versions of PageMaker and FreeHand by scanning the manuals while riding BART between Berkeley and San Francisco every day.

Wading through walls of text, with a token graphic thrown in here and there, is not my idea of a good time. This book does it right. The numbered procedure lists, only a couple levels of heads, a simple check mark and bullets to indicate tips, usable bleed tabs and an excellent index makes it very easy to scan. I love it!

If you're a Web designer and you'd like to add some true interactivity to your work, but you're a "script-o-phobe" like me, get "JavaScript for the World Wide Web (Visual Quickstart Guide) 2nd Edition." The only thing I'd change about this book, is the length of the title... Gary Bastoky

This is a great learning or reference book. I used this book in the begining to learn some of the Javascript basics... and I still use this book as reference now.

This book might be a disappointment to some people who are looking for a thorough introduction to this scripting language. However, if you have a learning style where you can learn and catch a pattern by doing rather than reading in abstract, then this book will definitely will get you up and running in a jiff. The authors write decently and are consistent throughout this primer. The companion site, though, should be updated and should be redesigned, in my opinion. Of course, after you "master" this book, you SHOULD get a more thorough, abstract book where you can actually learn the intricacies and the inner works of this very powerful client-side scripting language without having to worry that you won't be able to apply it.

If, as I did, you have an older version of this book, it's time to upgrade. The fifth edition is significantly expanded over previous editions. Recommended.

I will never need to buy another JavaScript book. This book covers all the basics and provides understandable examples with explanations. It also provides full program examples such as building a slide show and random images. There is an easy-to-follow object flowchart to help you remember the order objects are called as well as a list of reserved words. The comprehensive index also makes it easy to access information on a specific subject -- whether you are new to JavaScript or you use it for a living. Great learning and reference tool.

This book is ideal for those who have a passing curiosity about Javascipt, but it is defininately NOT a reference manual. Not a bad investment for the weekend web doodler who is intimidated by learning new computer languages. This book isn't designed to TEACH much about Javascript; it takes a "monkey see, monkey do" approach. Not a book for serious programmers.

I have used QuickStart books for a number of years to get into/get started with new technology and software, and they have consistantly impressed. This book keeps up the tradition. I highly recommend it. A great resource for anyone getting into, or improving their knowledge of JavaScript. Go buy it, you won't be sorry.

Most books on JavaScript are packed with examples of how to do several simple tasks. Kinda like a cookbook; you can make several different individual items, but there's very little or no guidance at all on how to make a nice dinner or meal made up of several items that blend nicely. Or, more importantly, no explanation of *why* certain items should go together and others should not.

An average teacher shows you "how" to do it; a great teacher tells you "why" it's done that way.

"JavaScript For The World Wide Web" tells you "why" JavaScript works the way it does, and points you to several web sites that further clearly explain it's finer points.
The examples are very informative and cover a wide range of situations and techniques.
Each chapter is full of easy to understand examples, and the appendix that covers the JavaScript object table is a gold mine
all by itself.

The best part about this book is that you are shown how to write cross-broswer compliant JavaScript that isn't huge and confusing.

This book is so important to me that I keep it next to my PC, right beside my O'Reilly JavaScript book (the one with the rhino on the cover).

If you have never programmed a line of code in your life, this book will help get you started.

Don't be afraid of writing code that won't work; there's lots of places on the WWW that are full of experienced programmers willing to help.

This book is great place to start. :)

This is a good beginners book. Didn't get into really detailed programming but it covers enough for anyone starting out.

After finishing a different book on
learning to write java-script, I was very discouraged since I got zero out of it! I was very
frustrated about what I did not learn, because of the way it was taught I
was more confused then anything else.
Undaunted, however, I decided to try "JavaScript for the WWW, Visual QuickStart Guide" and see if I had better
results. Well, I learned more in just the first few chapters then
I did with the entire other book! The book is presented in a clear concise instructional format - that builds a foundation one block at a time.
I recommend this book to anyone that wants to learn JavaScript.

Perhaps if you are interested in copying and slightly modifying simple javascript snippets, this book might work for you. But if you are interested in a more fundamental understanding of Javascript so that you can go beyond the examples, this book is lacking in explanation. But the most annoying part of the book is the unreadable (and thus unusable) legend in the appendix that indicates which properties, methods and handlers are supported by which browsers.

This book was written with the beginning JavaScript developer in mind. It takes you from the introduction of JavaScript to several indepth features. While I would have perferred a glossary or more indepth listing of the actual JavaScript functions and methods, there are other books that provide this (the ones that cure insomnia). The authors presented the material in an easy to follow manner and the included graphics helped explain the material as well.

I highly recommend this book to the beginning JavaScript developer. I have a background in app. development, but haven't ever attempted JavaScript. Now, I'm writing everything I can in JavaScript.

Dive right into JavaScript by copying text from a book, having no idea what it means, and running it in your browser! What a great concept! If you want to LEARN JavaScript, go elsewhere. This book is not it, simply cool little canned tricks for hobbyists only. Still looking for the ultimate JS book without the theory and fluff and not pure reference. If anyone has found it, email me! Please! (zlinst@hotmail.com)

I bought this book in 1997 and found useless. Now I have been seeing new edition, little bit thicker, in book stores. I browsed thru the pages and found that it is still useless.

If you are just trying to insert some JS code on you web site as an hobby, this might be ok with this book. But for learning JS, this book will lead you to nowhere. For example, rather than explaining how JS code works, the book has wastes space by writing instructions like "Type a period", "Type a semi-colon" or "type an angle bracker", etc. It is totally waste of time and money.

I would never by any books on this series.

I unfortunately recommended this book to my students because of the lack of other beginner books at the time. The visual organization of code stumped the entire class because its presentation was discontinuous. In addition, some of the code was not working with current technology and the cross-browser examples were not cross-browser, not to mention not cross-platform.

The good news was that the book has all the code on a website with the images of the examples available for download and that saved the day. Had I known, I would have NOT bought the book and just used the website as a tutorial.

I bought this book to learn java script fast but besides couple of examples how to play with pictures there is nothing in there. Do not make the same mistake! The only book from the same series that I like was HTML4.

For the most part the book works well as a primer. Basically, instead of getting yourself one of those Teach Yourself books, you could use this one instead. Believe me, I have the teach yourself book, and this one is much better. It works like a "Cheat" book. Good for quickly referencing a script that you might be in need of. Also, it works well as a learn through examples. However, I have to emphasize that the book is very light on details, therefore you should complememnt it with a real reference book such as O'Reilly's or the JavaScript Bible. Please note that the book only claims to be a quickstart book, not a panacia.

This series is usually very good. But this one leaves you with not much more knowledge of JavaScript then when you started. It gives you plenty of examples to follow, without telling you the How's and Why's. You don't learn JavaScript so much as follow directions. Very dissapointing.

Whether you are a novice web designer or a web expert, this book will prove helpful in learning the sometimes difficult scripting language of JavaScript. I used this book along with two other, more lengthy books, to develop some interactive content on my website. While the other two "reference style" books were helpful, they assumed I already had a knowledge of the language and jumped in somewhere in the middle. I then picked up the VQS and found myself with a basic knowledge of the language within fifteen minutes and was programming by the end of the day. So, if you are tired of those books that jump in to a language with no introduction, read this one!

After using various JavaScript scripts (or snippets) with not much understanding of the language for a couple of years, I decided to learn the language. I bought this book and the O'Reilly "bible" with the intent of reading both at the same time -- getting practical applications from this one, and theory and depth from O'Reilly. I usually put sticky tabs on pages when I find something I KNOW I will use in the future. Most books in my technical library have two or three sticky tabs at most. This book has an incredible FOURTEEN. To me, that says this book is more than worth the price and the time to read it.

Whether you're just starting with JavaScript or looking for a easy to use quick reference, this is the right book for you. It's side-by-side, step-by-step look at frequently used instructions and protocols makes it the perfect reference for entry-level programmers. And, its companion website offers a wide assortment of scripts that can be downloaded as starting points for local customization.

I am an HTML designer trying to use Javascript in my web pages. I have bought 4 books on Javascript in the last 2 years -- all have been useless to me. I wanted a book that would provide solutions for specific problems that I was trying to solve. THIS IS THE BOOK I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR! All the others require you to read through the whole book before you'll understand what you're doing. Even then, you still don't have much of an idea how to write scripts that you'll be able to use.

This book shows you exactly how to write scripts to solve specific problems. It's also written in such a way that you can adapt the scripts to serve your needs.

This is not an advanced programming book, nor is it a complete reference for javascript. However, it is very straight-forward, easy to read, and you'll be able to QUICKLY use javascript in your web pages!

While I have been programmer since 1980 and being paid for it, unlike MANY recent people. I repsect the book for what it has. Quick simple examples that make one thing clear. They do work and that is all the WWW is looking for. No one want to reinvent the JAVA just for themselfs. The book does rush, and like so many 'in 7,21 days' you can do this; its not a comprehensive manual. But it never stated it was! As for netscape v. IE live with it. Anyone remember beta vs VHS. Now you have to think DVD.

I first found this book was great with the examples, till friend told me my examples didn't work.

The Javascript examples provided in the book don't work for Netscape. So be careful.

Very good primer on Java Script. This book is truly for the literal beginner, but excels in this capacity. Upon completion you will need to move on to a more thorough treatment.

I first bought O'Reilly's JavaScript The Definitive Guide and this book was too confusing. After reading JavaScript for the World Wide Web I have a better understanding of JavaScript. These visual quickstart guides are great!

This is a very good book for the basics of javascript. Although not delving into the harder portions of the language, this book is very handy for most basic web programing (i.e. java frames, mouseovers, banner adds, etc.) Overall, I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn how to code the basics of javascript, or somebody who watns to learn javascript

The authors are not very good at explaining things, even relatively simple things such as the prompt() method or the dot syntax. It could be much clearer and they could do it with fewer words. The authors take a rambling tone that doesn't quite give you the information you need. You can't depend on the authors to give you meaningful explanations. You have to experiment and try different things.
It's possible to learn JavaScript with this book, but it will take much more time than is necessary. In five editions, why couldn't they have improved this book? What are they doing? Other Visual Quickstart Guides are the same way. I hope the Visual Quickstart Guides go out of business and some other company takes over the market share. They've been cavalier toward their customers and don't deserve to be in business much longer.
Other books like JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by Flanagan, and JavaScript: The Complete Reference by Powell and Schneider are better at explaining the language even though they are considered to be more advanced books.
The same authors have published JavaScript & AJAX for the Web, which has almost the exact same content only it has a couple of AJAX chapters thrown in. Check out the review by another customer (at this point it is the only review). His critique is very similar to this one.
On the positive side, the authors manage to get most of the information across and the content is relevant for the majority of users.
If you choose to buy this book, use it as more of a guide and do not depend on it. Purchase other books to supplement it.

I needed a quick brushup on Javascript that I had learned (and barely understood) four years ago. This book is great. I consider myself a novice so I felt so confident after reading it. I don't understand why the person above said the scripts don't work. I went to the very simple website and copied the scripts to Dreamweaver and they work just fine as long as I have the supporting files.

Great Book!

If you know basic HTML, and want to get a start on JavaScript, this is absolutely the best book to get. It leads you gently through the basics, providing lots of useful and thoroughly explained example scripts. I've used this book to teach non-programmers, humanities students who were building web pages for their classes, and it really works. Smith and Negrino are not just good programmers, they're good writers and teachers, and they keep the companion web site up to date. Their book is a fabulous foundation for JavaScript, and you can start using JavaScript almost immediately, even if you only use their example scripts. They're also unusual, as JavaScript book authors, in that they teach good scripting habits, as well as the usual nuts and bolts.

If you want to just copy code from the book and paste it on your websites, this is the book for you. In which case, you may as well download JavaScripts from some website. It does have line-by-line explanations for the scripts, but the explanations are not that great. it's not organized in the best manner, either. I never understood loops reading this book until I started learning Perl and used a book that explained it. Then I understood how to use them in JavaScript. If you want to actually learn to code, rather that just copy code, I'd suggest a different book.

The Visual Quickstart series of books have changed my life; honestly. I'm 23 and loving my job as web designer. If it weren't for Elizabeth Castro, I would probably still be doing tech support. That aside, remember that these books are indeed a "quick" start which is different from a 101-level class in a subject. The book dives right into helpful scripts like browser-type detection and status bar messages but doesn't necessarily explain how to do a while loop or even basic syntax. This book, like the others in the series, will get your feet and give you a pretty good idea of whether or not it's the right technology for you.

One thing I really like is the simplified version of complicated scripts. For instance, the rollover button script that Dreamweaver uses has a lot of extra code that, at least to a beginner, makes no sense and seems unnecessary. When I looked for an alternative script on the web, I found an even more complicated one. The script the book shows you is *so* easy and it works! Why doesn't everybody use something this simple?

Anyway, I look at all of the VQS books as starters. You're going to have to get a more advanced book if you want to do anything heavy duty...

If you are new to Javascript and want a tutorial, then this book is good for you. You get very quickly an introduction to Javascript through code examples, just as the title of the book tells - Visual Quickstart.

However, if you start to develop real applications, and you want to look for the description of how to implement a Javascript function, then you will probably not find it in the book. The book does not even cover freqently used Javascript functions listed in the function tables.

In other word, if you want just ONE book for JavaScript, this book is NOT for you. Buy "JavaScript Definitive Guide" by David Flanagan. You will find it is worth the money.

Another book in the Visual Quickstart Guide series, "HTML for the World Wide Web", did a much better work.

If you want examples of how to do specific things, this book may be for you (I doubt it), but if you really want to know what the stuff means, don't waste your money. I returned my copy.

If you want examples to copy, you don't need a book. There are plenty of sites out there to learn from.

Despite attempting a number of so-called "easy start" books, Tom Negrino and Dori Smith's excellent "JavaScript for the World Wide Web" is the first which has held my interest long enough for me to understand something.

Can I pin down why? It's probably a combination of an easy writing style, the order in which topics have been tackled and the clearly-explained worked examples.

All of which has moved my own Javascripting from the haphazard to the logical in a very short space of time.

I don't believe I've ever used a Visual Quickstart guide but I had always heard very positive comments about the series from friends so when the time came for me to get an intro book for JavaScript, I gave this one a try. After 2 weeks, I returned the book because it was virtually useless to me. I had more useful information about JavaScript in my HTML Blackbook than in this book and I've been using my HTML Blackbook as a reference until I find a JavaScript book that I like.

This is not the book for the advanced programmer, but if you want a quick jump start, this little book is for you. Examples are explained line by line, and the examples are presented on the same page opposite the text. This is the perfect layout for teaching yourself javascript quickly. If you are a beginner or a newbie to javascript or have limited experience, this book will jump-start you to create your own scripts right away.

This is a great book for finding common JavaScript solutions for your websites quickly. It is packed with code snippets for some of the most common uses of JavaScript - like validating forms, manipulating windows, navigating frames, and making roll-over buttons.

A handy index and liberal use of screen shots make this a "quick-find" book for JavaScript. Most of this stuff is available for free on web sites like DocJavaScript.com and HTMLGoodies.com. However, this book puts the most useful scripts together in one place.

This isn't a stand-alone book for learning JavaScript. The lack of technical detail in this book is made up for by the number of useful scripts it provides, and by it's low price. It's a great primer, and complements more advanced books like Goodman's "JavaScript Bible" or Flanagan's "JavaScript the Definitive Guide".

I hated this book for it's organization and it's format. Poor examples, too little explenation as to why your would practically use the functions being taught.

I much prefer the teach your self in 21 day format books

My Real World Adobe GoLive 5 book recommended JavaScript for the WWW, so I bought it. I have done some successful programming over many years in both BASIC and HyperLogo; and I have written web pages in HTML - all with no problem. I bought JavaScript for Dummies and JavaScript for the WWW about a month ago, and have devoted a lot of time - totaling maybe 48 hours, using the books, to learning JavaScript. I am sorry to say that I have gotton essentially nowhere. I find that after a lot of study, grief and frustration, that I am unable to write anything beyond even the most elementary of scripts.

I cannot think of anyone who would benefit from either of these books.

I have bought this book the other day expecting to learn javascript, It is basicly a book OF javascripts teaching you basicly nothing. I am an expert and HTML, Perl and a few others and I am very dissapointed. If you want the most popular scripts get this book but otherwise i would not reccomend it. I am also a fan of the Visual Quickstart Series but this has to be one of their worst books. I reccomend you buying a different book,

Thanks for reading Chris

I have read quite a few books on JavaScript, and I think this one is the best so far. Since I have some basic knowledge of the language, what I am looking for is how to use the concept and techniques to build a better web page. And this book gives me all the real examples I want to use in my own web site. I don't recommend this book to a beginner who doesn't know anything about JavaScript, but for those who have some knowledge and look for some practical tips and usage, I strongly recommend this one as a hand-on reference book. It has helped me a great deal!

Another thing I like about this book is the authors have put all the scripts in the book into their website which makes my learning much easier. Very thoughtful. I appreciate their efforts.

This book is clearly not up to the expectations set by the Visual Quickstart Guide for HTML. I've been a developer for years, although I'm new to JavaScript and DHTML. I hoped this book would explain the concepts and provide clear examples of simple functions and a few more popular advanced options.

I think the biggest failyre in this book is the index. The index is very weak. I've found reference to very few of the words for which I was looking. I was often reduced to scanning pages to find what I wanted, and I often found the information I wanted even though it wasn't in the index.

I found that concepts are poorly covered and most of the examples brushed over. This book does use a lot of pictures to show the code, but the explanations are lacking and there a no alternatives presented. If the example does what you want, great!, if not you're given no explanation of how to modify the code. I can't reccomend a better book, but I will say I've found much better help on the web.

If you are new to Javascript this is a great book to start with. It doesn't go into too many advanced topics but this book will give you the foundation you need to go onto more advanced books.

If you want to be able to do something quickly using Javascript, do not buy this book. Instead go to one of the several Javascript tutorials on the internet and get your code from there. The information is the same and you will save yourself some money. If, like me, you actually want to learn the scripting language and not just cut and paste code, well then this book is a true waste of money. You will learn every little and most likely will not be able to write your own code having gone through it. Try 'Javascript Bible' instead. It has more substance to it.

I am a novice Java Script user and was hoping to "jump right in" and apply some Java Script to my pages. To date I have not been able to make ONE of the codes in this book do what I want it to do. Furthermore, this book teaches nothing. It is simply copy and paste with very little theory or explanation. I have used other Quickstart Guides in the past with moderate success, but cannot recommend this one.

If you have a small website and you are interested in adding some special effects or interactivity with Javascript, you may find this book very interesting. I have 2 small websites, and I found this book adequate for the small things I wanted to accomplish.

However, if you are interested in getting heavy into Javascript and creating your own code, I would not recommend this book. It has a very poor reference section in the appendix, and does not explain things in a way that would teach you to be a real Javascript programmer. The book is only good enough to give you some code you can copy, and have a general idea of how it works.

I noticed that this is somewhat typical of the Visual Quickstart series of books. They provide you with enough information to do certain tasks, but they do not get deep enough where you can have a lot of flexibility and creativity on your own.

A very good reference work; great for the beginner but a little thin for the experienced programmer. It could be improved by a more intense discussion of syntax, structure and etc. and handles some of the more complex programming examples with too little explaining, but it's definitely worth a look (or two).

This book provides some javascript examples to tinker around with, but does not bother to teach the basics of the language. You can get scripts for free all over the web. I would be surprised if someone could create one from scratch using the information provided here.

As long as you're intelligent enough to remember that books like this are for people who AREN'T using Microsoft Frontpage and are using real webpage editors or doing all the coding themselves than this book is GREAT!

The best part about this book is that it has a correlating website where you can see the scripts in action and download them for yourself. This is especially helpful because it destroys any chance of a script having a typo.

This is the first programming language I've attempted to learn, and this book was the perfect way to start. I plan on buying more Visual Quickstart Books in the near future.

Also - all those rumors about this stuff working only in Netscape is a load of poo poo. Netscaped is talked about the most in this book because the people at Netscape (Sun Microsystems) created Java.

This book truly lives up to its title. It delivers on its promise to get you writing javascript quickly. The coding examples are excellent and accompanying commentary very well written.The layout makes it very easy to use. It has been an invaluable tool.

This book is not a complete reference (O'Reilly's 'Definitive Guide' probably comes closest to that definition), but it is a superior way to learn the most useful JavaScript techniques (form verification, images, frames, cookies -- and debugging) quickly. The use of illustrations in these 'Visual QuickStart' guides can't be beat, and every line of code is explained thoroughly. If you need to learn advanced JavaScript -- or Dynamic HTML -- you'll need to look elsewhere. But you can't go wrong by starting your JavaScript training with this book.

I wasn't very impressed with this book. After reading HTML4 for WWW, I thought this would be good too. It was hardly any reference material at all. I would not recommend this for a professional developer. I agree with another reviewer that said He was thinking of throwing it away. Disappointing, don't waste your money on it.

I bought your book today and it is great.  I was browsing many JavaScript books at the bookstore and the clarity and examples of your book stood out.

Almost everything I wanted was in the book.    I love the script idea on "the time of the day."   I definitely want to use that on my site. Thanks a lot.  Your website is a fantastic addition to the book with all the nice examples that *work*.

Thanks...

I bought this book to learn how to write JavaScript, and all it does is show me the ones that you CAN do if you want to copy and paste it into your web page. If you want to actually learn it and be able to write your own scripts this book is not for you.

Negrino & Smith's book is a fantastic book on JavaScript for beginners.
Rather than overwhelm the reader with techno-babble and line-upon-line of code, 'JavaScript for the World Wide Web' sets out short, useful, scripts, explains what they do, why you would use them, and what makes them work the way they do.
Someone who knows next-to-nothing about JavaScript can pick up this book, open at page one and read through, following the clear, illustrated, examples which explain JavaScript from the most basic level to powerful, complex (but very useful) features such as regular expressions.
I found this book tremendously good value, and would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone keen to learn this essential web programming language.

I'm an artist/designer and not a programmer. I searched many sites and other books and have found that this book was very easy to understand and the codes very flexible, meaning I could figure out how to add my own images, look, etc. with the knowledge that I have. Along with a better understanding of JavaScript, I've also gained a good reference book which also includes information on Cascading Style Sheets, DHTML and much more. I'm now able to look at JavaScript codes/books and know a little something about what is going on.

just a quick note to say your sites/books are a great source of instruction and reference to the javascript beginner...
i've learnt a lot from them!

I chose the Quickstart book to build on that foundation and provide a reference. The authors of the Quickstart book fail fill in the blanks as they go along, and have left me wondering what I missed in several excercises. I guess if you wanted to copy some code and didn't care if you knew how it worked, this would be a good book.

For newbies, this book is a good start in the whole world of fascinating techniques like rollovers. It has a static examples, that novices can type in and possibly (maybe not, see below) see the results. It's kind of like a kindegarden show and tell type lessons.

However, if your needs are beyond playing around, and you really want to do something useful, this this book is drastically inadequate.

The book does not adequately cover the DOM (Document Object Model) to allow users to truly understand how web-scripting works, beyond creating a few fascinating (and perhaps annoying) web tricks.

Some of the scripts will not even work on today's browers. Most of the code is glued specifically to the Microsoft DHTML DOM (all DOM), which is propiertary, and doesn't cover at all the standard W3C DOM used in Internet Explorer, Opera, and Netscape. Even in the coverage of code for Microsoft's DOM is far from even approaching adequate, meaning that readers cannot piece together enough knowledge to do their own creations (beyond some web tricks).

If you are a complete newbie, wanting to create some stupid web tricks to annoy people, then this book is a good place to start. Though, the web has far better resources on this material. However, if you want to seriously use JavaScript to enhance your web pages, or to make a professional solution, then this book is a far cry from being resourceful.

This is a book of examples and it's organized by the things you want to do on your Web site rather than by the Javascript features. Each example is accompanied by screen shots and example code that can be easily modified and added to your Web site. Better yet, there is a companion Web site so you don't have to type the code from scratch. Those who want to understand objects need to look at other books specifically for advanced developers. This is a book targeted at beginners and people who know how to set up Web pages.

There are two nice charts in the book that provide details on the objects along with its properties, methods, and event handlers.

Absolutely great book for someone who wants to start learning javascript. No more of those lengthy books. Personally, I like to get in there and start programming. Early this year I decided to teach my html & javascript, and, well, it just basically took off. Of all the books I've seen, I find the Visual Quickstart series is the best. I have 3 books from the series. Looking forward the next version.

For the price, you get a well-laid out book of a few popular javascript "scripts". This is not a good book for learning the language. It clarifies "a few" popular scripts for those who cut and paste code. If that's what you want, it's a very good buy.

Ok, not a good book for programmers as it has been said already. And, this is absolutely true. Then again, I am not a programmer. This book did NOT help me get a grasp on Javascript fundamentals--the info included in the first chapter about basic Javascript programming principles was too brief, too simplistic--but I did not want massive programming training at this point. Hard to decipher techie-speak is not for me, and if it is not for you--then you probably could get some use out of this book. Can I build scripts by myself? Gosh, no--but I can surely modify the ones included in the book to fit my simple website building needs (this book is good for people who want a quick solution to writing--ok, copying--some basic Javascript onto their personal pages).

I used this book to get a quick idea of how to create a small window for viewing larger versions of linked thumbnail pictures on my kids' website. In essence, I just modified the example code to fit my needs. Also useful was a script for inserting the date into pages--even though Dreamwaever does that automatically.

This book works best as a look-up-what-you-need quick reference if you are good at copying code correctly (javascript is definitely spacing-sensitive) and using it. It will not make you a Javascript programming god. Still a good buy if you want an idea of what javascript looks like, some basic things that can be accopmplished with it, and some snappy code for neat things to add on your website (though some smell of tackiness) such as picture slide shows and browser version plug-in checks (good if you use a specific version of a media player and must test for it on your visitor's browser).

I'm a big fan of Peachpit Press's Visual Quickstart Guides -- in fact, when people ask me for advice on learning to make web pages, I don't hesitate to recommend Elizabeth Castro's HTML for the World Wide Web. However, the 3rd edition of this book is a huge disappointment and truly did nothing to help me understand JavaScript and how it works. It really doesn't even have many good or original scripts in it!

Interestingly enough, I had an earlier edition of this book (I can't remember whether it was the 1st or 2nd edition) which, although written by different authors, was equally unhelpful.

I've gotten far more out of Joe Burns' online JavaScript tutorials at Earthweb.

Impressed with the Visual QuickStart guide to HTML, I tried the one for JavaScript. If you want to learn JavaScript fast then you should go in for the book. Though less comprehensive than a book like 'definitive JavaScript', this book is certainly more interesting and to the point. This book is full of examples and you can learn JavaScript fast by working out the examples. The authors also give valuable tips alongside. Having said that, more serious developers should also invest in a standard JavaScipt text book to read more about the language.

Ok, so here is how to do something cool with your website in JavaScript. Oh, it doesn't work quite the way you want, you say? Well too bad - here is another cool thing you can do with JavaScript.
Thats pretty much how your experience is going to be it you buy this book with the intention that it will teach you JavaScript. This book should not be used as a teaching tool. It may be useful for the individual who wants to see how some interesting things are done in JS, but the examples given are all pretty much standard examples with no variations given. It would be nice to see something different than what is available for free on the web. In this books defense it does do a good job of explaining the examples, but I would recommend it as a companion, not as a standalone teaching tool. If you get this book I would highly recommend taking a look at a good refrence like Wrox's Instant JavaScript, good read and full of good code.

This book does not belong with the VQS series. It does not teach you javascript. It just shows you some, don't get me wrong, useful scripts, but it doesn't TEACH. When I read others' scripts, I don't understand some of the functions because they were not taught. I STRONGLY suggest not buying this book, but trying "Designing with Javascript" by o'reilley.

The book is obviously written for Netscape, like so many other JavaScript books, neglecting the fact that more people use IE.

There is code on almost every page that can be used without modification in your web pages to add functionality, which is the only reason I gave it 2 stars instead of 1. However, there is almost no explanation for how or why the code is written, and absolutely nothing to detail syntax, properties, or functions the code.

After reading the entire book, a reader would still be left unable to write their own code.

I already owned and got a lot of use out of the two previous editions of this book and was always a little disappointed that I really needed to keep both handy, but not anymore. The Third Edition covers all the important topics in either of the other two and adds even more valuable content. The book adds some content too, particularly good are the chapters on DHTML and JavaScript and on debugging. This is a great book for beginning to intermediate JavaScript users. It's not an exhaustive reference though, so if that's what you're lookin for, then this is not the book for you.

This book is terrible. I read hlf of a internet tutorial on Html and I learned more about Javascript.

I was hoping that this book would be a good overview of JavaScript. Instead, it is full of specific examples of code and brief walkthroughs of the code. It would have been much more helpful if there were comprehensive descriptions of the code or objects. And even though the author encourages the reader to place comments in their code, he neglects to do this for the samples. This would have been extremely helpful as there were many times when I understood the code as a whole, but found some statements confusing and could not tell what exactly they were doing.

After reading Castro's "HTML 4 for the World Wide Web", I spotted this book and bought it without really examining it. Since it's from the same publisher, I expected the same high quality. I was disappointed.

Or maybe it's not a quality thing, as such: I have a lot of experience with procedural languages, so there wasn't much for this book to teach me. This is an ok book, I guess, if you're a beginner. A better option for people with some experience, IMHO, is "Professional JavaScript" from WROX.

I bought this book when I felt satisfied and confortable with HTML and wanted to go further in to web publishing. It provides a quick start for you if you had no idea of javascript but have a fair understanding of web design using HTML. Simple scripts are given, then explained one line after another. Then you trans-script it to your page. There is also a companion homepage to the book. There, you copy the scripts and paste on your page. Basically, therefore, it is a user-manual kind of book. But it suited me as a beginner. I later learned how to combine some of the scripts together to produce effects that the book never mentioned. In summary, the book has helped me tremendously to have a good start with Javascript. Tom, Dori, that is a good book. Looking forward to the 3rd edition.

please take this away from me lest i burst into flames and singe my shorts, there is no short way to learn js. the definitive guide takes time to get to any good stuff but at the end of the day you will understand js. from there hack about yourself. d.

I bought this book thinking that I'd LEARN Javascript. Instead, this book is solely a collection of scripts, most of which are freely available from plenty of websites. If that's what you want, then perhaps this collection is for you. I wanted to LEARN, and this is not the way. This collection of scripts gives the reader no explanation as to how any of them work. Not a training book by any means.

Unlike other Peachpit Press Visual Quickstart Guides, this is a VERY weak coverage of the topic, which will leave most buyers wanting. Typical of the lack of content is the description of how to do loops. "The kind of loops used in this book is the for loop..." No other types of loops are even mentioned. Does JavaScript provide while loops or until loops - or even the dreaded infinite loop? You'll have to look elsewhere to find out. The part on defining functions says you usually use an event handler to call a function, and gives no hint of other uses for functions - and this is also the only treatment of event handlers! It's true that you can call a function from an event handler, but often you use functions in calculations of values or in the logic of if statements. These more normal uses of functions are only treated in this book by use in the example scripts. You have to discover them for yourself. Event handlers are presented as if the only thing you can do is call a function. Can you also put code right in the handler? You won't find the answer in this book.

If you're looking for a few useful but trivial scripts, this book is an awfully expensive way to get them. If you're after a decent language reference book, this definitely isn't it. Save your money.

I've had great luck with some of the Visual Quick Start guides and had high hopes for this book. My objective was to learn enough JavaScript to make our Web pages more functional and interesting.

Also, I'm pretty well-versed in HTML so I'm not exactly clueless.

By the time I was finished with the second chapter, I was thoroughly confused. I would have preferred that the authors built on the language and then provided practical applications. Instead that threw a lot of basics at you in the first chapter and by the second chapter were throwing some fairly complex algorythms at you like randomization. Another complaint is that some of the scripts they give you don't work. At least not in the browsers I used.

I am a technical writer and trainer by profession and this book appalled me. Hey Tom and Dori if you want to write a book that makes sense send me an email.

One more thing. The authors wrote in a cutsey style that continually irritated me and that I found somewhat patronizing and condescending.

This is useful as a reference book or to learn JavaScript. I do not use it often, but when I need it I am very glad to have it on my shelf. Good examples.

Believe it or not, this book is an acutal textbook for a course I am taking in college. I was hoping for a book better than this for a college course.

I had no trouble with this transaction. The book arrived in new condition ahead of scheduled arrival time. Thanks.

Great, the way the authors explain is amazing. A great feature is how the authors name functions and variables to show what their script is actually doing. It's fairly short, to the point, and an amazing reference, too.

This book is a great one for web designers who need to know how to put Javascript into their code. It gives good instructions and picture examples of how the code should turn out. It also has a thing in the back to referrence Cascading Style Sheets and other codes you use in web design. This is a definite must-have for web designers!