For Dummies JavaScript and AJAX 978-0-470-41799-7 User Manual

10

 

Figure 1-1: 

This page 

has some 

interesting 

features 

that would 

not be pos-

sible in 

basic HTML.

 

The text in this box changes.

This program requires you to have an active Internet connection to work cor-
rectly. Check Chapter 10 to see some alternatives for connecting to external 
libraries.

 

If you want to see this page in action (and you really should), please go to the 
companion Web sites for this book: www.aharrisbooks.net/jad or www.
dummies.com/go/javascriptandajaxfd

. This program and every other 

program and example in the book are available at that site. 

At first, the Web page looks pretty simple, but when you open it in your own 
browser (as you should) and begin playing with it, you’ll soon discover that it 
packs a lot of surprises. This very simple page illustrates a lot of the reasons 
why you should learn JavaScript and AJAX.

 ✓ 

The buttons do something. You might already have a handle on creat-
ing form elements (such as buttons and text fields) in plain HTML, but 
HTML can’t do anything with the buttons and text fields; that’s why you 
need a programming language. 

 

 If you want something interesting to happen, you need a programming 

language. Each of these buttons uses JavaScript to do some interesting 

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