InformIT: Sams Teach Yourself HTML 4 in 24 Hours

The Wide World of JavaScript

You've learned enough in this hour to have a head start on JavaScript and to add some snazzy interaction to your Web pages. You've probably also gotten the idea that there's a lot more you can do, and it isn't as hard as you may have thought.

You may also find some scripts online that can be incorporated into a Web page of your own with little or no modification. (Check out the JavaScript-related links at http://24hourHTMLcafe.com/hotsites.htm#developer for good places to find scripts.)

When you find scripts you'd like to reuse or experiment with, use Figure 19.6 as a guide for placing the JavaScript elements where they should go; generally, functions go in the <head> area, preceded by <script language="javascript"> and followed by </script>. The parts of the script that actually carry out the actions when the page is loaded go in the <body> part of the page, but still need to be set aside with the <script> tag. Sections of script that respond to specific form entries go in the <a> or <input> tags, with special attributes such as OnMouseOver or OnBlur.

You can also put JavaScript into a separate file by putting the name of that file in a src attribute within the <script> tag, like the following:

<script language="javascript" src="bingo.htm"></script>

This is especially handy when you are using a script that someone else wrote and you don't want it cluttering up your HTML. Some parts of the script, such as JavaScript attributes of form <input> tags, may still have to go in your HTML document.

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