The Technology Behind DHTML

One of the most important components of DHTML technology is the Document Object Model (DOM), designed for Web pages. The DOM is really a description that explains how to access any element on a Web page as an object. These objects, similar to Visual Basic's controls and C++ objects, have properties that you can change on-the-fly simply by changing its properties. All of the following can be objects subject to the Document Object Model:

  • Text

  • Graphics

  • Individual HTML tags

  • Hyperlinks

  • Menus

  • Multimedia controls such as video clips

  • Command buttons and other controls that can appear on Web pages

With DHTML comes a new name for scripts—scriptlets A scriptlet is the same as the scripts you learned about in Chapter 15, "Batch, Macro, ...

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