JavaScript & jQuery: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition

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By David Sawyer McFarland

Publisher: O'Reilly Media / Pogue Press

Released: October 2011

Pages: 536

JavaScript lets you supercharge your HTML with animation, interactivity, and visual effects—but many web designers find the language hard to learn. This jargon-free guide covers JavaScript basics and shows you how to save time and effort with the jQuery library of prewritten JavaScript code. You’ll soon be building web pages that feel and act like desktop programs, without having to do much programming.

The important stuff you need to know:

Make your pages interactive. Create JavaScript events that react to visitor actions.
Use animations and effects. Build drop-down navigation menus, pop-ups, automated slideshows, and more.
Improve your user interface. Learn how the pros make websites fun and easy to use.
Collect data with web forms. Create easy-to-use forms that ensure more accurate visitor responses.
Add a dash of Ajax. Enable your web pages to communicate with a web server without a page reload.
Practice with living examples. Get step-by-step tutorials for web projects you can build yourself.

Getting Started with JavaScript
1. Chapter 1 Writing Your First JavaScript Program
  1. Introducing Programming
  2. How to Add JavaScript to a Page
  3. Your First JavaScript Program
  4. Writing Text on a Web Page
  5. Attaching an External JavaScript File
  6. Tracking Down Errors
2. Chapter 2 The Grammar of JavaScript
  1. Statements
  2. Built-In Functions
  3. Types of Data
  4. Variables
  5. Working with Data Types and Variables
  6. Tutorial: Using Variables to Create Messages
  7. Tutorial: Asking for Information
  8. Arrays
  9. Tutorial: Writing to a Web Page Using Arrays
  10. A Quick Object Lesson
  11. Comments
3. Chapter 3 Adding Logic and Control to Your Programs
  1. Making Programs React Intelligently
  2. Tutorial: Using Conditional Statements
  3. Handling Repetitive Tasks with Loops
  4. Functions: Turn Useful Code Into Reusable Commands
  5. Tutorial: A Simple Quiz
Getting Started with jQuery
1. Chapter 4 Introducing jQuery
  1. About JavaScript Libraries
  2. Getting jQuery
  3. Adding jQuery to a Page
  4. Modifying Web Pages: An Overview
  5. Understanding the Document Object Model
  6. Selecting Page Elements: The jQuery Way
  7. Adding Content to a Page
  8. Setting and Reading Tag Attributes
  9. Reading, Setting, and Removing HTML Attributes
  10. Acting on Each Element in a Selection
  11. Automatic Pull Quotes
2. Chapter 5 Action/Reaction: Making Pages Come Alive with Events
  1. What Are Events?
  2. Using Events the jQuery Way
  3. Tutorial: Introducing Events
  4. More jQuery Event Concepts
  5. Advanced Event Management
  6. Tutorial: A One-Page FAQ
3. Chapter 6 Animations and Effects
  1. jQuery Effects
  2. Tutorial: Login Slider
  3. Animations
  4. Performing an Action After an Effect Is Completed
  5. Tutorial: Animated Dashboard
Building Web Page Features
1. Chapter 7 Improving Your Images
  1. Swapping Images
  2. Tutorial: Adding Rollover Images
  3. Tutorial: Photo Gallery with Effects
  4. Advanced Gallery with jQuery FancyBox
  5. Tutorial: FancyBox Photo Gallery
2. Chapter 8 Improving Navigation
  1. Some Link Basics
  2. Opening External Links in a New Window
  3. Creating New Windows
  4. Opening Pages in a Window on the Page
  5. Basic, Animated Navigation Bar
3. Chapter 9 Enhancing Web Forms
  1. Understanding Forms
  2. Adding Smarts to Your Forms
  3. Tutorial: Basic Form Enhancements
  4. Form Validation
  5. Validation Tutorial
4. Chapter 10 Expanding Your Interface
  1. Organizing Information in Tabbed Panels
  2. Adding a Content Slider to Your Site
  3. Determining the Size and Position of Page Elements
  4. Adding Tooltips
Ajax: Communication with the Web Server
1. Chapter 11 Introducing Ajax
  1. What Is Ajax?
  2. Ajax: The Basics
  3. Ajax the jQuery Way
  4. JSON
2. Chapter 12 Flickr and Google Maps
  1. Introducing JSONP
  2. Adding a Flickr Feed to Your Site
  3. Tutorial: Adding Flickr Images to Your Site
  4. Adding Google Maps to Your Site
Tips, Tricks, and Troubleshooting
1. Chapter 13 Getting the Most from jQuery
  1. Useful jQuery Tips and Information
  2. Using the jQuery Docs
  3. Traversing the DOM
  4. More Functions For Manipulating HTML
  5. Advanced Event Handling
2. Chapter 14 Going Further with JavaScript
  1. Working with Strings
  2. Finding Patterns in Strings
  3. Working with Numbers
  4. Dates and Times
  5. Putting It All Together
  6. Writing More Efficient JavaScript
  7. Creating Fast-Loading JavaScript
3. Chapter 15 Troubleshooting and Debugging
  1. Top JavaScript Programming Mistakes
  2. Debugging with Firebug
  3. Debugging Tutorial
4. Appendix JavaScript Resources
  1. References
  2. Basic JavaScript
  3. jQuery
  4. Ajax
  5. Advanced JavaScript
  6. CSS