JavaScript Tutorial
Javascript, what the heck is it? Is it a really difficult programming language
that casual web designers should be afraid of? What is it used for? Hopefully we'll
be able to answer these questions for you and more.
JavaScript has been around for several years now, in many different flavors. The
main benefit of Javascript is to add additional interaction between the web site
and its visitors at the cost of a little extra work by the web developer. Javascript
allows industrious web masters to get more out of their website than HTML and CSS can provide.
By definition, Javascript is a client-side scripting language. This means
the web surfer's browser will be running the script.
This is opposite to client-side is server-side, which occurs in a language like PHP. These PHP scripts
are run by the web hosting server.
There are many uses (and abuses!) for the powerful Javascript language. Here are
a few things that you may or may not have seen in your web surfing days.
- Clocks
- Mouse Trailers (an animation that follows your mouse when you surf a site)
- Drop Down Menus
- Alert Messages
- Popup Windows
- HTML Form Data Validation
Tutorial Overview
Before you begin this tutorial you should have basic knowledge of HTML.
Check out our Beginner and
HTML tutorials to brush up on the basics.
This tutorial will cover the basics of Javascript, from where to place your Javascript
all the way to making your own Javascript functions. Also there will be some good programming practice tips throughout this tutorial.
We recommend that you read a few lessons a day and practice what you have
learned. This will help you to absorb the material more readily than if you blasted through the
tutorial in one sitting!
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