appendix C
Online JavaScript Resources
CONTENTS
This appendix lists some useful resources for learning more about
JavaScript-Web sites, newsgroups, and mailing lists. I have also
included pointers to learn more about the other languages you
encountered in this guide-HTML, Java, Plug-ins, CGI, ActiveX, and
VBScript.
A complete index of related Web sites could fill a guide this size-in
a recent Web search, I found nearly 75,000 Web pages containing
the word "JavaScript." Rather than try to list everything,
I've listed a few of the most useful sites for each topic-those
I enjoy using myself. You can find additional sites by following
links from the ones I've provided or by using your favorite search
engine. If you don't have a favorite, I recommend Digital's Alta
Vista:
http://altavista.digital.com/
Due to the constantly changing nature of the Web, a few of the
sites on this list may have changed by the time you read this,
and better ones may have sprung up. For an updated list of links,
consult this guide's Web site:
http://www.starlingtech.com/guides/javascript/
This section presents some useful resources for JavaScript-newsgroups,
mailing lists, and Web sites. You can use these to learn more
about JavaScript, see many working examples, and help others with
problems.
The following Usenet newsgroups are available for discussion of
JavaScript topics:
- comp.lang.javascript
was created for JavaScript discussions. If you have a question,
it's a great place to ask it-many JavaScript experts frequent
the group.
- news://news.livesoftware.com/livesoftware.javascript.developer
is a JavaScript newsgroup maintained by Live Software. See the
next list for its Web site.
There are also a few mailing lists for JavaScript:
Hundreds of Web sites about JavaScript have sprung up since JavaScript
became a popular Web language. I've listed some of the best ones
(in my opinion) in the next sections. You'll also find links to
many more sites.
Netscape's JavaScript Authoring Guide
The "user's manual" for JavaScript, this site explains
everything in technical detail. You'll find information about
the latest changes and updates to JavaScript here, along with
a handy reference.
http://home.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/3.0/handguide/javascript/
Netscape 3.0 Features
Another useful page from Netscape is the list of features for
Netscape 3.0. It includes links to information about each of the
features, and it is also updated as new features are added:
http://home.netscape.com/comprod/products/navigator/version_3.0/index.asp
The JavaScript Index
This was one of the first sites about JavaScript. Its maintainer,
Andrew Wooldridge, has assembled a comprehensive directory of
JavaScript-related sites and other resources, and he includes
some useful examples of his own. Here's the address:
http://www.c2.org/~andreww/javascript/
JavaScript 411
This site is home to the original JavaScript FAQ (frequently asked
questions) file. You'll also find some examples of JavaScript
in use, and links to other sites here:
http://www.freqgrafx.com/411/
The JavaScript Resource Center
This site is maintained by Paul Colton of Live Software, author
of Java Unleashed,
also from Sams.net. It includes the JavaScript examples from that
guide, other examples, links to other sites, and newsgroups and
chat areas:
http://jrc.livesoftware.com/
Yahoo! JavaScript Listings
Yahoo! is, of course, one of the most popular Web directories.
You can use this URL to go directly to its listing of JavaScript
resources:
http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Languages/JavaScript/
The JavaScript Workshop
Last but not least, don't forget this guide's own Web site. Here,
you'll find updated versions of the examples in the guide, other
new examples, news about JavaScript and browsers, and updates
to this guide's text. You can also submit comments and questions
about the guide:
http://www.starlingtech.com/guides/javascript/
Here are a few pointers to information about HTML, browsers, and
the Web in general.
HTML is constantly being updated. To find the latest information
about the HTML standard, see the W3C's pages at this address:
http://www.w3.org/
Currently the latest version is HTML 3.2. You can see a summary
of the changes in HTML 3.2 at this page:
http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/MarkUp/Wilbur/
Of course, not all tags you use in JavaScript pages are standard
HTML. Consult Netscape's pages (listed below) for information
about the extensions Netscape has made to HTML.
webreference.com
This is a useful reference for everything to do with the Web and
HTML. One particularly useful feature is a comparison between
Netscape's extensions and the HTML standard, which can be helpful
when deciding which features to implement in your pages:
http://webreference.com/index.asp
Validation Services
Of course, if you're interested in HTML standards, you'll want
to make sure your pages follow them. Several validation services
on the Web enable you to enter your URL and check it based on
the HTML standard of your choice-or even Netscape's extended HTML.
One of the most popular is the WebTechs Validation Service:
http://www.webtechs.com/html-val-svc/
You might find the results from most HTML validation services
a bit confusing. If so, you should definitely check out an alternative,
the "kinder, gentler validator" maintained by Gerald
Oskoboiny. It's the one I use on my pages:
http://ugweb.cs.ualberta.ca/~gerald/validate/
To keep up with JavaScript, you'll want to stay informed about
the latest new browser versions. Here are the addresses for the
two browsers that currently support JavaScript:
Here are some other sites you should visit to stay tuned to the
latest about HTML, browsers, and the Web:
- BrowserWatch-a great site with up-to-the-minute news about
browser versions, plug-ins, and other Web technologies. This is
usually the first place you'll hear about a new browser:
http://browserwatch.iworld.com/
- The Web Developers' Virtual Library: A comprehensive listing
of sites that relate to HTML and the Web and tools you can use
to develop Web pages:
http://www.stars.com/Vlib/
- BrowserCaps is a service that collects information by survey
to find out just which HTML features each browser supports. You'll
find information about nearly every existing browser here:
http://www.pragmaticainc.com/bc/
- The HTML Writers Guild is an international organization of
HTML authors and other Internet professionals; you can find information
on joining at its site:
http://www.hwg.org/
We covered a bit of Java in Chapter 16, "Integrating JavaScript
with Java." If you want to learn more, you can start with
the online resources listed in the next sections.
This is the original site for information about Java. You can
find documentation and information about Java here, as well as
example applets and the Java Developers Kit:
http://java.sun.com/
Gamelan is a huge directory of Java-related Web pages and publicly
available applets. Currently, it includes links to over 3,000
resources. It also includes a section with links to JavaScript
resources:
http://www.gamelan.com/
This site includes listings of Java job openings, a reference
for the language, and a list of guides and other references for
Java:
http://www.javaman.com/
JavaWorld is a monthly Web-based magazine about Java development.
It also includes a monthly column on JavaScript:
http://www.javaworld.com/
Here are some useful resources for learning about plug-ins, which
are introduced in Chapter 13, "Working with Multimedia and
Plug-Ins."
This is Netscape's official site for information about plug-ins.
You'll find information about the plug-in specification here,
as well as information about using plug-ins with JavaScript and
links to plug-in manufacturers:
http://home.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/3.0/handguide/plugins/pguide.asp
Part of BrowserWatch, mentioned above, this is a huge listing
of available plug-ins with descriptions. It includes charts detailing
which platforms each plug-in is available for:
http://browserwatch.iworld.com/plug-in.shtml
One of the most popular plug-ins is Macromedia's Shockwave, which
enables users to view presentations, animations, and movies created
with Macromedia Director on the Web. In addition, the latest version
supports real-time CD-quality audio. See Macromedia's site for
information and to download the plug-in:
http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/
One of the first available plug-ins was Adobe's Acrobat, which
enables you to display PDF (Portable Document Format) documents
on the Web. These documents can include graphics, fonts, and other
features for great-looking presentation. See Adobe's site for
information and to download the plug-in:
http://www.adobe.com/Amber/
QuickTime, developed by Apple, was one of the first standards
for full-motion video on computers. The QuickTime plug-in enables
you to view movies inline in Web pages. See Apple's site for information
and downloads:
http://quicktime.apple.com/
Live3d is one of the more popular VRML plug-ins for Netscape.
It was developed by Netscape corporation, and it is bundled with
the latest version (3.0). See its site for information:
http://home.netscape.com/comprod/products/navigator/live3d/download_live3d.asp
The ncompass plug-in by Excite has received a lot of attention
lately, because it enables Netscape to support ActiveX-something
Netscape doesn't plan to do anytime soon. See its site for information
and downloads:
http://www.ncompasslabs.com/
You looked at CGI and SSI in Chapter 17, "Combining JavaScript,
CGI, and SSI." Here are a few pointers to additional information.
This is the official CGI documentation from the source-the National
Center for Supercomputing Applications, where the Mosaic Web browser
originated. The exact specifications are given, along with a tutorial:
http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/cgi/
This is a useful site with answers to frequently asked questions
about CGI. It also includes links to other sites with further
information:
http://www.best.com/~hedlund/cgi-faq/
This site includes a large collection of useful information about
the WWW and HTML and many links to related sites. In addition,
it includes a comprehensive section on CGI programming:
http://www.nas.nasa.gov/NAS/WebWeavers/weavers.asp
Perl is the most popular language for CGI and SSI programming.
You can learn more about it from Tom Christiansen's Perl page,
which includes information about Perl, links to other sites, and
an online version of the Perl manual:
http://www.perl.com/
Another useful site is the Perl 5 WWW Page, which includes information
about the latest features of the Perl language, along with an
archive of scripts and libraries:
http://www.metronet.com/perlinfo/perl5.asp
Here are a few Usenet newsgroups for discussions of CGI, SSI,
and Perl:
- comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi
is devoted to all aspects of CGI, in any language.
- comp.lang.perl.misc is
a general newsgroup for information about the Perl language.
Chapter 18, "Using ActiveX and Microsoft Internet Explorer
3.0," talks about ActiveX and VBScript, the new Web developments
from Microsoft. You can find out more about both of these at the
sites listed in the next sections.
You can find information direct from Microsoft at the Microsoft
Developers' Workshop Web page, which includes specifications and
tutorials for ActiveX, VBScript, and HTML. Here's the URL:
http://www.microsoft.com/intdev/default.asp
You can also learn about Microsoft Internet Explorer and its capabilities
at this page:
http://www.microsoft.com/ie/
Microsoft recently announced JScript. Now, before you worry about
learning another scripting language, don't panic-JScript is actually
an implementation of JavaScript. Using the JScript implementation,
you can use JavaScript to script just about any application; Microsoft
will even license the source code, so you can expect it to be
ported to other platforms. See this URL for information:
http://www.microsoft.com/jscript/
Yet another part of BrowserWatch, mentioned previously, is devoted
to ActiveX controls. You'll find a comprehensive list of controls
there, as well as news about the latest in ActiveX:
http://www.browserwatch.com/activex/
In this section, you'll find pointers to Web sites with further
information about some of the topics that were mentioned but not
covered in this guide.
VRML-the Virtual Reality Modeling Language-has been a buzzword
for the past year as 3D environments have started to appear on
the Web. Although VRML hasn't quite taken over the Web yet, it's
worth learning about. Here's the URL for the VRML specification:
http://webspace.sgi.com/moving-worlds/spec/
Another reason to learn about VRML is that JavaScript is now its
official scripting language. Using a different set of browser
objects, you can use JavaScript in a 3D environment on VRML browsers.
See this URL for information:
http://webspace.sgi.com/moving-worlds/spec/part1/javascript.asp
GIF animations are a good alternative to JavaScript animation,
and they are fully supported by Netscape and MSIE. You can find
out more about GIF animations at this site:
http://members.aol.com/royalef/gifanim.asp
Because security has been an important issue on the Web recently,
I conclude with some pointers to security information related
to JavaScript, Java, and the Web in general:
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