JavaScript: The Missing Manual

The Missing Credits

About the Author

David Sawyer McFarland is president of Sawyer McFarland Media, Inc., a Web development and training company in Portland, Oregon. He’s been building Web sites since 1995, when he designed his first Web site—an online magazine for communication professionals. He’s served as webmaster at the University of California at Berkeley and the Berkeley Multimedia Research Center, and oversaw a complete CSS-driven redesign of Macworld.com.

In addition to building Web sites, David is also a writer, trainer, and instructor. He’s taught Web design at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, the Center for Electronic Art, the Academy of Art College, Ex’Pressions Center for New Media, and Portland State University. He’s written articles about the Web for Practical Web Design, MX Developer’s Journal, Macworld magazine, and CreativePro.com.

He welcomes feedback about this book by email: [e-mail]. (If you’re seeking technical help, however, please refer to the sources listed in Appendix A.)

About the Creative Team

Nan Barber (editor) has worked with the Missing Manual series since its inception—long enough to remember booting up her computer from a floppy disk. Email: [e-mail].

Nellie McKesson (production editor) is a graduate of St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She currently lives in Jamaica Plain, Mass., and spends her spare time making t-shirts for her friends to wear (mattsaundersbynellie.etsy.com). Email: [e-mail].

Tony Ruscoe (technical reviewer) is a Web developer living in Sheffield, England. His first computer programs were written in Sinclair BASIC on his ZX Spectrum in the mid-1980s. He’s been using JavaScript since 1997 when he started to develop websites and web applications. He currently maintains his personal website (http://ruscoe.net) and a site dedicated to researching his surname (http://ruscoe.name).

Lisa Hasko (technical reviewer) is a nonprofit humanitarian aid worker with a background in project management for an independent film Web site. Aside from freelancing in her spare time, she is a traveler, social connector, and changeaholic. Email: [e-mail].

Marni Derr (tech reviewer) is a technical writer and Web developer. When not working on computer-related books or client sites, she is madly giving fiction writing a go. She maintains a community blog for technical writers and developers at http://writingyourdreams.com. Email: [e-mail].

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to all those who helped with this book, including Marni Derr, Tanya Symes, Tony Ruscoe, and Lisa Hasko, whose watchful eyes saved me from potentially embarrassing mistakes. Thanks also to my many students at Portland State University who have sat through my long JavaScript lectures and struggled through my programming assignments. Also, we all owe a big debt of gratitude to John Resig and the jQuery team for creating the best tool yet for making JavaScript fun.

Finally, thanks to David Pogue for getting me started; Nan Barber for making my writing sharper and clearer; my wife, Scholle, for putting up with an author’s crankiness; and my son, Graham, who’s glad I’m done with this book so he and I can finally get back to playing Indiana Jones and the Legos of Doom. (Hey Kate, welcome to the world!)

The Missing Manual Series

Missing Manuals are witty, superbly written guides to computer products that don’t come with printed manuals (which is just about all of them). Each book features a handcrafted index; cross-references to specific pages (not just chapters); and RepKover, a detached-spine binding that lets the book lie perfectly flat without the assistance of weights or cinder blocks.

Recent and upcoming titles include:

Access 2007: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald

AppleScript: The Missing Manual by Adam Goldstein

AppleWorks 6: The Missing Manual by Jim Elferdink and David Reynolds

CSS: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland

Creating Web Sites: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald

Digital Photography: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover and Barbara Brundage

Dreamweaver 8: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland

Dreamweaver CS3: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland

eBay: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner

Excel 2003: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald

Excel 2007: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald

Facebook: The Missing Manual by E.A. Vander Veer

FileMaker Pro 8: The Missing Manual by Geoff Coffey and Susan Prosser

FileMaker Pro 9: The Missing Manual by Geoff Coffey and Susan Prosser

Flash 8: The Missing Manual by E.A. Vander Veer

Flash CS3: The Missing Manual by E.A. Vander Veer and Chris Grover

FrontPage 2003: The Missing Manual by Jessica Mantaro

Google Apps: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner

The Internet: The Missing Manual by David Pogue and J.D. Biersdorfer

iMovie 6 & iDVD: The Missing Manual by David Pogue

iMovie ’08 & iDVD: The Missing Manual by David Pogue

iPhone: The Missing Manual by David Pogue

iPhoto ’08: The Missing Manual by David Pogue

iPod: The Missing Manual, Sixth Edition by J.D. Biersdorfer

Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition by David Pogue

Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition by David Pogue

Microsoft Project 2007: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore

Office 2004 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual by Mark H. Walker and Franklin Tessler

Office 2007: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover, Matthew MacDonald, and E.A. Vander Veer

Office 2008 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual by Jim Elferdink

PCs: The Missing Manual by Andy Rathbone

Photoshop Elements 6: The Missing Manual by Barbara Brundage

Photoshop Elements 6 for Mac: The Missing Manual by Barbara Brundage

PowerPoint 2007: The Missing Manual by E.A. Vander Veer

QuickBase: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner

QuickBooks 2008: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore

Quicken 2008: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore

Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition by David Pogue and Adam Goldstein

Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition by David Pogue

Wikipedia: The Missing Manual by John Broughton

Windows XP Home Edition: The Missing Manual, Second Edition by David Pogue

Windows XP Pro: The Missing Manual, Second Edition by David Pogue, Craig Zacker, and Linda Zacker

Windows Vista: The Missing Manual by David Pogue

Windows Vista for Starters: The Missing Manual by David Pogue

Word 2007: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover

Your Brain: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald