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| An Introduction to Dynamic HTML (DHTML) |  |
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What is DHTML?: DHTML can make animations, button rollovers, and other multimedia effects without the need for browser plugins. With DHTML, every tag, image, and text block on a web page now has attributes or properties that can be changed by a script(s) written into that page. These changes to an element's properties via scripting take place dynamically without the need to reload the page to see the changes take effect. DHTML combines the power of style sheets and a scripting language (typically JavaScript) to allow you to control and manipulate the various elements of a web page.
Getting Started With DHTML: Since DHTML uses style sheets and a scripting language to achieve it's effects, your first step in using it should be to begin learning about these technologies. A good place to begin learning about style sheets is our previous article An Introduction to Style Sheets. For additional information and tutorials on style sheets, check out the links available at http://www.nuthinbutlinks.com/styles.htm. And for information, tutorials, and samples of JavaScript, you'll find a large collection of links to related sites at http://www.nuthinbutlinks.com/java.htm. With a good, working knowledge of style sheets and JavaScript, you'll be well on your way to adding dynamic features to your web pages.
DHTML Samples: Before you get started, however, you may want to see some examples of how a few authors are already incorporating DHTML into their sites. Macromedia's DHTML Zone - Spotlight showcases a different site each week that incorporates DHTML, and keeps a list of previous spotlighted sites.
Drawbacks to DHTML: There is a distinct difference in the way that Netscape and Internet Explorer implement DHTML. Features that work in one browser may not work in the other. If you find that you want to create dynamic pages, you may find that you'll need to create separate versions for each browser. So, while now is a good time to get a fair understanding of Dynamic HTML and what the future holds, it may be prudent to just experiment with it for now and not fully implement it into your web pages.
If you'd like more detailed information on Dynamic Style Sheets, visit the following sites:
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