JavaScript™ Phrasebook: Essential Code and Commands

Chapter 5. DOM and DHTML

This chapter covers two loosely related JavaScript techniques: DOM and DHTML. These two aspects of JavaScript have existed for several years, but only since the Netscape 4.x market share dropped under the Mozilla market share a few years ago has it been possible to use them together. Originally, they did not have much in common, but now they are often used together. The focus of this chapter is on DOM, since many of the phrases throughout this book can more or less be categorized under “DHTML.”

Understanding DOM

DOM, which stands for Document Object Model, is quite self-describing: It provides an object model (and, alongside it, an API, or application programming interface) for a document. In the web context, this ...